The New Testament Christological Hymns
Their Historical Religious Background

A study of the hymnic and liturgical material in the New Testament which describes Christ's nature and person.

Jack T. Sanders (Author)

9780521615969, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 2 December 2004

176 pages
21.7 x 13.2 x 1.4 cm, 0.243 kg

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.

Preface
Abbreviations
Hymns in the New Testament
Part I. Formal Analysis of the Hymns: 1. The New Testament Christological hymns
Part II. The Current Status of the Investigation: 2. The Prologue of John
3. Philippians ii. 6–11
4. Colossians i. 15–20
5. The shorter passages
Part III. Historical Religious Background of the New Testament Christological Hymns: 6. The odes of Solomon
7. The coptic gnostic literature from Nag Hammadi
8. The Thanksgiving of the Wisdom School
9. The New Testament Christological hymns as language
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Religion: general [HRA]