“Holloway displays a superb mastery of a massive range of both Jewish and non-Jewish materials to throw light on Paul’s letter. This outstanding commentary will be a standard work on Philippians for many years to come.”
Philippians
Paul‘s letter to the Philippians offers treasures to the reader--and historical and theological puzzles as well. Paul A. Holloway treats the letter as a literary unity and a letter of consolation, according to Greek and Roman understandings of that genre, written probably in Rome and thus the latest of Paul‘s letters to come down to us. Adapting the methodology of what he calls a new history of religions perspective, Holloway attends carefully to the religious topoi of Philippians, especially the metamorphic myth in chapter 2, and draws significant conclusions about Paul‘s personalism and "mysticism." With succinct and judicious treatments of pertinent exegetical and theological issues throughout, Holloway draws richly on Jewish, Greek, and Roman comparative material to present a complex understanding of the apostle as a Hellenized and Romanized Jew.
- Publisher Fortress Press
- Format Hardcover
- ISBN 9780800660963
- eBook ISBN 9781506438436
- Dimensions 8.25 x 9.25
- Pages 256
- Publication Date November 1, 2017
Contents
Introduction:
Prefatory Remarks on Ancient Consolation
Literary Integrity of Canonical Philippians
Place and Date of Writing
“Rhetorical Situation”
Genre: Philippians as a Letter of Consolation
The Disposition of the Letter
Key Religious Topoi
Excursus: σῶμα πνευματικόν
Commentary:
I.Letter Prescript (1:1–2)
II.Exordium: Paul’s Affection and Prayers for the Philippians (1:3–11)
III.The Body of the Letter: Things That Really Matter and Other Consolatory Arguments (1:12‒4:9)
IV.Peroration: Paraenesis and Consolation (4:2–9)
V.A Post-Scripted Expression of Thanks (4:10–20)
VI.Final Greeting and Prayer (4:21–23)
Endorsements
A superb mastery of a massive range of both Jewish and non-Jewish materials.
Christopher Tuckett | professor emeritus, University of Oxford
The very best of historical scholarship.
“This substantial new commentary represents the very best of historical scholarship and draws on an encyclopedic knowledge both of Hellenistic philosophy and rhetoric and of Jewish apocalyptic and mystical traditions. One has the sense that everything is here thought through afresh, with original results at every turn.”
John M. G. Barclay | Durham University
Holloway has succeeded masterfully in bringing Paul’s mythological thinking into clear relief.
“Holloway has succeeded masterfully in bringing Paul’s mythological thinking into clear relief. As someone who studies the reception of Paul in late antiquity, I am grateful to Holloway for making Philippians more securely and intelligibly an ancient document.”
Charles M. Stang | Harvard Divinity School
Brilliant and readable.
“A brilliant, and readable, contribution to the study of Philippians."
Amy-Jill Levine | Vanderbilt University Divinity School
Always fresh and often innovative.
“This is a wonderful commentary . . . Concise, informed, fair, and—what matters most—always fresh and often innovative.”
Samuel Vollenweider | University of Zurich