Title: Where Christology Began: Essays on Philippians 2
Editors: Ralph Martin and Brian Dodd
Bibliographic info: x +169
Cover: Soft
Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press (1998)
ISBN-10: 0664256198
ISBN-13: 9780664256197
With thanks to Westminster John Knox for the review copy!
The Carmen Christi (Php 2:6-11) is one of the most well-known Christological passages in the New Testament. It seems to speak of the divine “form” of Jesus (whatever that means), His incarnation (though this is debated), His obedience on earth, and His exaltation as a result. It is generally thought that this was an early Christian hymn that pre-dates Paul. This book contains ten essays on the Carmen Christi, each examining either one or all of the disputed portions of this passage.
First, Philippians 2:5-11 taxes the skill of the translator, as many of the key words, especially to do with the presentation of Christ’s role in the text, baffle the lexicographer’s mind and offer a wide, often puzzling, variety of choice and interpretation. This lack of agreement as to the precise nuance – or even the meaning – of words such as μορφη, αρπαγμος, and υπερυψωσεν – is evident from even a cursory examination of the modern commentaries from Dibelius to Fee. And it is a feature of these essays that on such crucial exegetical matters there is no common agreement. (pg. 2)
I will give a very brief synopsis of each essay followed by my overall thoughts on the book.
The first essay, “Carmen Christi Revisited”, by Ralph Martin, is really an introduction and just gives a brief overview of the purpose and function of the book.
This is followed by an essay entitled, “Ernst Lohmeyer’s Kyrios Jesus”, by Colin Brown. In 1928, Ernst Lohmeyer published a very important piece on the Carmen Christi entitled Kyrios Jesus. Unfortunately, this has never been published in English, however, in this essay, Colin Brown has endeavored to give us an analysis of Lohmeyer’s acclaimed work. This is the longest essay in the book, running at about 37 pages.
The third essay is, “Incarnation, Myth, and Theology: Ernst Käsemann’s Interpretation of Philippians 2:5-11”, written by Robert Morgan. As the title indicates, this essay deals predominantly with Käsemann’s interpretation of the Carmen Christi, although this essay also addresses Lohmeyer’s interpretation in large part, which is due to Käsemann’s interaction with Lohmeyer. Käsemann’s agreements and disagreements with Lohmeyer’s interpretation is summarized in the following excerpt:
Käsemann radicalizes some of Lohmeyer’s proposals and takes issue with others. He agrees in finding here a myth of the incarnation and exaltation of a divine being, and like Lohmeyer he is keen to interpret this theologically for the contemporary church and world; but he disagrees with Lohmeyer about the general scope of the passage and about its source in the history of religions, as well as over several other exegetical details. (pg. 51)
The fourth essay is by James Dunn and is called, “Christ, Adam, and Preexistence.” This is quite a brief summary of Dunn’s view that the Carmen Christi exhibits an Adamic Christology. I found this essay to be quite interesting. In my interaction with Christadelphians (who deny the deity of Christ), I have had this Adam interpretation of the Carmen Christi thrown at me in an attempt to disprove the necessity of interpreting it as teaching the pre-existence and deity of Christ.
This essay is followed by “Christ, Adam, and Preexistence Revisited”, by L.D. Hurst. In this essay, Hurst presents twelve issues of difficulties in response to Dunn’s interpretation. The following is a quote of Hurst’s last point:
A final question lingers with regard to the context of the hymn in Paul’s ethics. Paul’s whole appeal is based on the idea that Christ’s action in emptying himself is praiseworthy. But what is there praiseworthy about not aspiring to a status to which one has no right in the first place? Can we believe that “God has given him a name above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow” because, unlike Adam, he simply refused to think more highly of himself than he ought? (pg. 89)
The sixth essay is “In the Form of God and Equal with God” by Gerald Hawthorne. The essay primarily focuses on the meaning of the two phrases in Philippians 2:6 – “in the form of God” and “equal with God.”
The following essay is “When He at Last is First!” by Larry Kreitzer. This essay focuses on the last few verses of the Carmen Christi and the exaltation of Jesus that is presented therein.
Richard Bauckham follows suit in the eighth essay entitled, “The Worship of Jesus in Philippians 2:9-11.” Bauckham also briefly deals with some arguments that Dunn raises in support of his Adam Christological interpretation of Philippians. This was probably my favourite essay in the book.
The ninth essay is “Christology and Ethics in Philippians 2:5-11” by Stephen Fowl. The tenth and final essay takes a similar angle as the ninth. It was written by Brian Dodd and is titled “The Story of Christ and the Imitation of Paul in Philippians 2-3.”
The essays by Brown, Morgan, and Bauckham were the best (in my opinion). I would add Dunn’s essay to that list, however it was very short. Dunn’s perspective needed a much fuller treatment and should have been one of the longest essays in the book. Overall, the book gives a pretty good look at the status quaestionis of this critical New Testament Christological passage.
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