Cover; Editorial Board; Title; Copyright; CONTENTS; Acknowledgments; Abbreviations; Chapter 1 AN INTRODUCTION TO THE COLOSSIAN PHILOSOPHY PUZZLE; Chapter 2 A HISTORY OF SCHOLARSHIP ON THE COLOSSIAN PHILOSOPHY; Chapter 3 INTERPRETING THE POLEMICAL CORE IN COLOSSIANS; Chapter 4 THE HISTORICAL AND SOCIAL SETTING OF THE COLOSSIAN PHILOSOPHY; Chapter 5 THE CONTROVERSY IN COLOSSIANS; Epilogue THE COLOSSIAN PHILOSOPHY AND THE CONFLICT AT COLOSSAE TODAY; Bibliography; Index of References; Index of Authors
Summary
Identifying the group or position that the author of Colossians attacks in ch 2 of that letter has long occupied scholars, but no interpretative consensus has resulted. This study details the inadequacy of existing reconstructions and offers in their stead the portrait of philosophically inclined Gentiles drawn to the Jewish community and then to the Christian congregation by ideas and practices congenial with their view of the world. Central to the Colossian philosophy's outlook was the pursuit of divine knowledge or wisdom through (1) the order of the cosmic elements (2.8, 20); (2) the bodily
Analysis
Christianity Scriptures
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 150-160) and indexes
