TY  - BOOK
AU  - Gordley, Matthew E.
PY  - 2007
DA  - 2007//
TI  - Colossian hymn in context: an exegesis in light of Jewish and Greco-Roman hymnic and epistolary conventions
T3  - Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament / 2 228
PB  - Mohr Siebeck
CY  - Tübingen
KW  - Criticism, interpretation, etc
KW  - Hymns, Early Christian
KW  - Hymns, Greek (Classical)
KW  - Jewish hymns
KW  - Hymne
AB  - The suggestion that the New Testament contains citations of early Christological hymns has long been a controversial issue in New Testament scholarship. As a way of advancing this facet of New Testament research, Matthew E. Gordley examines the Colossian hymn (Col 1:15-20) in light of its cultural and epistolary contexts. As a result of a broad comparative analysis, he claims that Col 1:15-20 is a citation of a prose-hymn which represents a fusion of Jewish and Greco-Roman conventions for praising an exalted figure. A review of hymns in the literature of Second Temple Judaism demonstrates that the Colossian hymn owes a number of features to Jewish modes of praise. Likewise, a review of hymns in the broader Greco-Roman world demonstrates that the Colossian hymn is equally indebted to conventions used for praising the divine in the Greco-Roman tradition. In light of these hymnic traditions of antiquity, the analysis of the form and content of the Colossian hymn shows how the passage fits well into a Greco-Roman context, and indicates that it is best understood as a quasi-philosophical prose-hymn cited in the context of a paraenetic letter. Finally, in view of ancient epistolary and rhetorical theory and practice, an analysis of the role of the hymn in Colossians suggests that the hymn serves a number of significant rhetorical functions throughout the remainder of the letter.
SN  - 3161492552
LA  - English
N1  - Matthew E. Gordley
ID  - 525122125
ER  -