The New Testament Christological Hymns: Their Historical Religious Background

by Jack T. Sanders

• ISBN13: 9780521615969
• ISBN10: 0521615968
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-12-02
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

A study of the hymnic and liturgical material in the New Testament which describes Christ’s nature and person. Professor Sanders analyzes the hymns in detail and finds in them a common mythological pattern. He traces its origin to a particular and unorthodox branch of Judaism which is itself a branch of the ‘wisdom’ tradition where the thanksgiving hymn had its home. His conclusions therefore have considerable importance and implications for questions about the origins of Gnosticism and its influence on Christianity. This is the full-scale historical religious study of the New Testament Christological hymns, and English readers will find particularly useful Professor Sanders’ critical survey of recent continental scholarship on this and related subjects.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Abbreviations	xi
Hymns in the New Testament	1	(8)
PART 1: FORMAL ANALYSIS OF THE HYMNS
1 The New Testament Christological Hymns	9	(20)
Philippians ii. 6-11	9	(3)
Colossians i. 15-20	12	(2)
Ephesians ii. 14-16	14	(1)
I Timothy iii. 16	15	(2)
I Peter iii. 18-22	17	(2)
Hebrews i. 3	19	(1)
The Prologue of the Gospel of John	20	(9)
PART 2: THE CURRENT STATUS OF THE INVESTIGATION
2 The Prologue of John	29	(29)
Sophia: Rudolf Bultmann's earlier solution	29	(4)
The gnostic redeemer: Rudolf Bultmann's later solution	33	(6)
Judaism: C.H. Dodd	39	(2)
Intra-Christian origin: Rudolf Schnackenburg	41	(2)
Logos: Lorenz Dürr	43	(7)
The process of hypostatization: Helmer Ringgren	50	(8)
3 Philippians ii. 6-11	58	(17)
The Suffering Servant	58	(6)
The two Adams: Jean Héring	64	(2)
The gnostic redeemer: Ernst Käsemann	66	(4)
Servant and Wisdom: Dieter Georgi	70	(5)
4 Colossians i. 15-20	75	(13)
A convergence of motifs: Martin Dibelius	75	(4)
The gnostic redeemer as a Jewish figure: Ernst Käsemann	79	(1)
Image: F.-W. Eltester	80	(8)
5 The shorter passages	88	(13)
Ephesians ii. 14-16	88	(4)
Hebrews i. 3	92	(2)
I Timothy iii. 16	94	(1)
I Peter iii. 18-22	95	(1)
Summary	96	(5)
PART 3: HISTORICAL RELIGIOUS BACKGROUND OF THE NEW TESTAMENT CHRISTOLOGICAL HYMNS
6 The Odes of Solomon	101	(20)
The Odes of Solomon and Christianity	104	(2)
The Lord of the Odes of Solomon	106	(8)
Hypostatization in the Odes of Solomon	114	(7)
7 The Coptic gnostic literature from Nag Hammadi	121	(12)
The Gospel of Truth	121	(9)
The Apocalypse of Adam	130	(3)
8 The Thanksgivings of the Wisdom School	133	(7)
9 The New Testament Christological hymns as language	140	(5)
Bibliography	145	(6)
Index	151