1995 JSNT Philippians Effective History

57-8
A COMMENTATORS APPROACH TO THE EFFECTIVE HISTORY
OF PHILIPPIANS*
Markus Bockmuehl
Fitzwilliam
College, Cambridge
Forgotten Factor in New Testament Interpretation ?
The best modern commentary series continue to produce technical studies of biblical books as ancient texts and as objects of detached critical analysis. A quick glance at even the most accomplished specimens reveals the extent to which, despite the clarion calls of a few stalwart dissenters, technical biblical scholarship is increasingly conversant only with the last half century or so of like-minded research. Where commentators do engage with the new socio-linguistic, literary or reader-oriented approaches, historical awareness is in many cases further foreshortened to one or two decades at best. The critical expertise amassed over the past century or so of biblical scholarship is indeed an impressive analytical arsenal, invaluable to the task of serious historical investigation. And inasmuch as Christianity continues to affirm a creed that stresses Gods action in history, the church itself benefits from a more accurate historical understanding of its normative Scriptures. Systematic theologians and Christian believers, however, have long known what is at last becoming obvious at least to a minority of New Testament scholars: the gulf between ancient text and contemporary
* This paper was first presented on 18 September 1994 in the New Testament Interpretation seminar of the British New Testament conference held at the University of Nottingham. I am grateful for valuable comments and criticisms received from members of the seminar as well as from Professor Henry Chadwick, Dr William Horbury and Mr Michael Lloyd.
Downloaded from jnt.sagepub.com at Oxford University Libraries on December 2, 2013
58
life cannot be bridged by an exclusively historical elucidation of the Bible. And yet, sadly, even those commentaries that are interested in how the Bible speaks today usually assume at best that good hermeneutics is mainly a matter of fusing two horizons, the ancient and the modem: the two thousand years in between are of little or no interest. In this respect it seems likely that Christian biblical scholarship of the future will come to regard ours as a remarkably rootless and ephemeral generation of interpreters. Road engineers know that when you are trying to build a new road from A to B, quite often the best route is more or less to follow the course of the old road from A to B. Thus one can make all the necessary road safety improvements while gaining from ones predecessors collective understanding of the local terrain. To this day, the main westbound motorway from Cambridge follows the straight course of an ancient Roman road through the Fens. Nineteen centuries of biblical interpretation generally followed an analogous procedure. For the last century and a half, however, we have not been building and improving a road on which to travel back and forth, but have attempted to slash a wide swath through the woods with picks and machetes and, one suspects, often without much sense of direction or sensitivity to the terrain. This illustration is of course only partly valid. Nevertheless, in assessing the meaning and vitality of a biblical text, it will not do, in the name of sola Scriptura or some similar slogan, to try and blaze a trail through supposedly virgin territory from the modern reader to the ancient author and the first audience. At least for those communities who still feel that the Bible has something to say to them, to isolate the ancient meaning is not enough-even supposing such a thing could be done. In order to bridge that gap between how the ancient text spoke and how it might speak today, we could do far worse than to examine how it has in fact spoken and functioned before now. How has this or that part of Scripture actually made a difference, how has it inspired and moved people to action or formed their thoughts and convictions, how has it taken shape, or indeed failed to take shape, in the history of the church? This dimension clearly constitutes something of a forgotten factor. If
1. Aside from the popular expository series bearing the former title, it is enlightening to consult, e.g., Howard Marshalls chapter on the continuing significance of Philippians in his contribution to the Theology of the Shorter Pauline Letters (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993).
59
the task of the commentator is to elucidate the meaning and significance of a biblical book, then his or her task cannot really be complete until the history of its meaning or significance has been displayed. Compare the American Declaration of Independence with Thomas Jeffersons private accounts of wages paid to his servants at Monticello. The methods of historical-critical exegesis can be brought to bear with equal success on both kinds of documents: but the real measure of their meaning and significance can be achieved only in the light of their respective historical impact. Only one of these documents changed the world. It is of course true that some biblical and especially patristic scholarship has retained a measure of awareness for this dimension,~ but it is most rarely acknowledged in contemporary exegetical commentaries. What a foundation document means cannot be determined without reference to its original intention; but nor can we discover what it means now without attention to what it has meant in the meantime. Whether we like it or not, we stand inescapably in the shadow of those who have gone before us. Biblical interpreters are well advised to take to heart the words of Bildad the Shuhite: Inquire now of bygone generations, and consider what their ancestors have found; for we are but of yesterday (Job 8.8-9). Ernst von Dobschtz was one of the very few scholars at the beginNote, e.g., M.F. Wiles, The Divine Apostle: The Interpretation of St Pauls Epistles in the Early Church (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1967); H. Smith, Ante-Nicene Exegesis of the Gospels (6 vols.; London: SPCK, 1925-29); A. Souter, The Earliest Latin Commentaries on the Epistles of St Paul (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1927); and more generally W. Horbury, Old Testament Interpre2.
tation in the Writings of the Church Fathers, in M.J. Mulder (ed.), Mikra (CRINT, 2.1; Assen: van Gorcum; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1988), pp. 727-87; M. Simonetti, Biblical Interpretation in the Early Church: An Historical Introduction to Patristic Exegesis (trans. J.A. Hughes; ed. A. Bergquist, M. Bockmuehl and W. Horbury; Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1994). Note further the forthcoming Patristic Commentary on Scripture edited by T.C. Oden, a series of biblical commentaries from early Christian sources. F.M. Young and D.F. Ford, Meaning and Truth in 2 Corinthians (London: SPCK, 1987) address the hermeneutical problem of Wirkungsgeschichte in passing (pp. 140, 152), but it finds no substantive implementation. 3. See, however, B.S. Childs, Exodus: A Commentary (OTL; London: SCM Press, 1974); C.E.B. Cranfield, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans (ICC; 2 vols.; Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1975-79); J.P.M. Sweet, Revelation (Pelican Commentaries; London: SCM Press, 1979); and U. Luz on Matthew, cited below.
60
ning of our century who called for the study of the Bible in these terms, but virtually no one bothered to take up his point. The influence
the culture and civilization of Christendom remains very largely incognita, an unknown blank on the map of New Testament scholarship. And yet it is arguably this very territory which we must traverse on our hermeneutical return trip between the modern and the ancient horizon of understanding. The history of the Bibles effects and influence illustrates and illuminates the task of interpretation by accompanying us on our journey from the ancient setting of a text to its meaning in the life of the modem reader. Ulrich Luz offers the powerful alternative image of the interpreter as a scientist who must analyse the water of a great river while sitting in a small boat which is itself carried and driven along by that same river. As so often, German scholarship (following Hans-Georg Gadamer6) has coined a phrase for this approach: Wirkungsgeschichte, effective history. Before going on to discuss Philippians, I should like to indicate a few lines of definition in conversation with recent work on this subject by Heikki Rdisdnen and Ulrich Luz.
on
of the Bible
terra
4.
See, e.g., E.
von
Dobschütz, The Bible in the Church, in J. Hastings (ed.),
The Influence of the Bible on Civilisation (New York: Charles Scribners Sons, 1914). 5. U. Luz, Das Evangelium nach Matthäus (EKKNT, 1.1; Zürich: Benziger Verlag; Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1985), p. 79 (ET [caveat emptor!]: Matthew 1-7: A Commentary [trans. W.C. Linss; Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1990], p. 96). Cf. p. 78: Die Wirkungsgeschichte sollte vielmehr helfen, die Auslegung eines Textes an unsere Gegenwart heranzuführen. See now also his Matthew in History: Interpretation, Influence and Effects (Augsburg: Fortress Press, 1994), esp. pp. 23-38, where he stresses inter alia that the study of Wirkungsgeschichte itself has an anti-fundamentalistic impact. 6. Truth and Method (trans. and rev. J. Weinsheimer and D.G. Marshall; New York: Continuum, 1989), pp. 300-307. Gadamer writes (pp. 300-301) that history itself determines in advance both what seems to us worth inquiring about and what will appear as an object of investigation ... Historical consciousness is itself situated in the web of historical effects ... In this respect, historical objectivism resembles statistics, which are such excellent means of propaganda because they let the "facts" speak and hence simulate an objectivity that in reality depends on the legitimacy of the questions asked. 7. H. Räisänen, The Effective "History" of the Bible: A Challenge to Biblical Scholarship?, SJT 45 (1992), pp. 303-24. See also Luz, Matthäus, pp. 7882 (ET Matthew 1-7, pp. 95-99). Note further R. Coggins, A Future for the Commentary?, in F. Watson (ed.), The Open Text: New Directions for Biblical
Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics 2 (1909), pp. 579-615; idem,
61
Lines In the interest of
of Definition
clarity, it may help to consider three basic polarities relating Wirkungsgeschichte to the confessional history of Christianity or of a denomination, to the history of interpretation, and to the intention of the scriptural author(s). Effective History versus Confessional Historv The effective history of the Bible cannot be reduced to its effect on the formation of the traditions of credal orthodoxy. Nor must it be seen merely as a way to legitimize certain conservative interpretations, as Rdisdnen rightly stresses. The Bible has had a Wirkungsgeschichte which also extends to the losers of Church history, to heretics and indeed to complete outsiders. What is more, we must acknowledge that the Bibles impact has not always been salutary, since it has at times been put to ill effect. The effective history of a biblical text includes the impact of its use, misuse and non-use-even if our ultimate aim is to shed light on its proper use.
Effective History versus the Historv of Interpretation With Rdisdnen and Luz, we must acknowledge a certain
distinction between Wirkungsgeschichte and Auslegungsgeschichte, that is, the history of interpretation. In other words, the effective history of a text is not the same as the mere account of its treatment in the annals of interpretation. Precisely what constitutes that distinction, however, is by no means self-evident. Luz would place on the one hand the exposition in commentaries and theological writings, and he contrasts this with other media like sermons, canon law, hymnody, art, the actions and sufferings of the church. But who is to deny that exegetical work forms part of the effective history of the Bible? One need think only of the vast influence of the Glossa Ordinaria (as well as the partly derivative
Studies? (London: SCM Press, 1993), pp. 163-175, esp. p. 172: Texts have an after-life... Any respectable commentary on Genesis 1 will have reference to Enuma Elish and other ancient Near Eastern creation stories; is there any place there for a reference to Haydns Creation and the perception of Gods creative power that it embodies? 8. Räisänen, History, p. 307. 9. Luz, Matthäus, p. 78 (though it must be said that in his commentary this distinction is by no means consistently carried through).
62
commentaries by Peter Lombard and Thomas Aquinas), Martin Luthers dramatic appeal to the Vulgates est in his eucharistic dispute with Zwingli at Marburg, or the effect on Protestant Christian thought of Karl Barths commentary on Romans. It must be true that the history of exegesis is itself a part, albeit perhaps only a smallish part, of the effect which the Bible has had in history.&dquo; Auslegungsgeschichte, in other words, is indeed part of Wirkungsgeschichte, and the two are always interdependent. Nevertheless, a distinction between them remains useful and should be maintained. Having said that, it is certainly true that the Bibles practical effect on history and culture often becomes most clearly visible where it moves out of the hands of the scribes and scholars into the life of church and society. The scope of this field is thus potentially very farreaching. Not only practical application but suppression or abuse of a text can be in view, as we saw earlier. 13 At the same time, and pace Rdisdnen, Wirkungsgeschichte concerns the ongoing effect of Scripture not just in the generation of new ideas and practices, but also in the legitimation and confirmation of existing ones. It must surely be true that the successful or even the attempted application of the Bible to stem the tide of contrary forces constitutes eloquent witness to its effect on the history of communities-whether the outcome is ultimately found to be salutary or harmful.
Effective History versus Authorial Intent Finally, it is worth pointing out that we are of course not only concerned with effects which might be in keeping with historical-critical findings about the original intent of a text. The fact is that biblical texts
10. Compare further the interpretation of the Sermon on the Mount in D. Bonhoeffers Cost of Discipleship; the use of Lk. 4 in liberation theology; and E. Schüssler Fiorenzas appeal to Mk 14.9. 11. Räisänen rightly criticizes Luz for insufficient precision and calls instead for a distinction between the actual "effectiveness" of a text and such "reception" as does not let it be effective (History, p. 311). However, these categories themselves seemsomewhat woolly. At the same time, Räisänen appears to overlook that Luzdoes in fact accept a relationship of concentric circles between Wirkungs-
geschichte and Auslegungsgeschichte. 12. An exploration of the impact of popular Christianity on the early churchs christological debates is offered by H.J. Carpenter, Popular Christianity and the Theologians in the Early Centuries, JTS NS 14 (1963), pp. 294-310. 13. Cf. Räisänen, History, p. 312.
63
quite
often had effects which went far beyond, and sometimes even contrary to, their original meaning. Rdisdnen is quite right in this regard to attempt a distinction between genuine effects and contrived applications. However, his appeal to the distinguishing criterion of plausible meaning seems somewhat vague in this connection. Instead I would suggest that the distinction must be between (1) direct and primary applications (including misapplications!) of a text, and (2) secondary uses merely for casual proof-texting of what is already established on other grounds. Or, to borrow a more useful criterion applied by Rdisdnen in another context (pp. 314-15): examples of the Bibles effective history are all those phenomena and developments for which the application of a text was a necessary condition. Beyond that, there is also arguable merit in Luzs preference for cases in which an interpretation close to the original meaning of a text found application in changed historical circumstances, inasmuch as such instances can exercise a corrective function today. 14
The
Effective History of Philippians
General Observations From these preliminary observations, then, we now turn to the effective history of Pauls letter to Philippi. A few general observations are worth offering by way of introduction.
The Bible, Paul and Philippians. The Wirkungsgeschichte of Philippians cannot be studied in isolation from the larger question of the effective impact of the Bible as a whole, and of the Apostle Paul in particular. Both have had a vast and in many ways inestimable effect on the history especially of Western culture. What is more, the impact of Philippians is inextricably bound up with that of the Bible as a whole: without its place in the canon, Philippians would have been merely an inconsequential snippet of ancient correspondence which, like other letters of Paul, might well not have survived. To that extent Philippians benefits from and occupies part of the symbolic world which Scripture as a whole defines throughout any and all Christian cultures. In particular, the impact of Philippians is immeasurably enhanced by the fact that it became part of the Churchs normative Scriptures, read aloud and
14.
Luz, Matthäus, p. 78.
64
privately around the globe for two millennia. It formed part not the canon but thereby of the massively influential Glossa Ordinaria, the mediaeval annotated Bible which was compiled from patristic writings and constituted a kind of exegetical gold standard for centuries.&dquo; In addition to the Fathers incorporated into the Glossa, it is
studied
only of
worth mentioning the considerable influence, in both the Eastern and the Western churches, of other patristic commentaries in the catena tradition, especially by Theodore of Mopsuestia (who was translated into Latin for use in the West) and by Chrysostom.&dquo; Blossoming in the fertile ground of this and similar expository traditions, Philippians as part of the Bible has been the subject of unnumbered sermons and expositions, but also of reflections and meditations on the part of both Christians and non-Christians&dquo; of every stripe and colour. The symbolic and psychological dimensions of this influence must remain intangible; indeed quite often even those concerned remain almost
unaware 8 of it.
Matters are similar with regard to St Paul. It is impossible to circumscribe the image of the great apostle to the Gentiles, who so inspired and changed the lives of countless people from Augustine and Luther to
15. On the influence of the Glossa Ordinaria seeB. Smalley, Glossa ordinaria, TRE 13 (1984), pp. 452-57. Peter Lombards widely influential expositions were basically a development of the Glossa, which contained excerpts from Origen, Ambrosius, Ambrosiaster, Jerome, Augustine, Gregory the Great, Cassiodorus, Bede, Alcuin, Rabanus Maurus, Walahfrid Strabo, John Scotus Eriugena and a few others. In spite of its scholarly production, its influence reached far beyond academic circles (cf. Smalley, Glossa ordinaria, p. 455) into vernacular literature, Wycliffe Bible translations and sermons. 16. Note also Theodoret and Theophylact; and see Wiles, Apostle, pp. 3-13. The abiding influence of these patristic authors even beyond the Middle Ages can be gauged by the new editions of their commentaries which continued to appear in the seventeenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries. 17. On this rarely studied subject of the pagan Wirkungsgeschichte of Scripture, see, e.g., G. Rinaldi, Biblia gentium: Primo Contributo per un indice delle citazioni, dei riferimenti e delle allusioni alla Bibbia negli autori pagani, greci e latini, di età imperiale (Rome: Libreria Sacre Scritture, 1989) including pp. 677-78 on Philippians. On a somewhat different note cf. K. Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1971), pp. 51-52 regarding the medieval use of the Bible for divination, a custom which in some circles continues until today. Many otherwise secular countries continue to require oaths to be made on the Bible. 18. Cf. Räisänen, History, p. 317.
65 mental icons of Paul are invariably hears any of his letters, while at the same time our view of the apostle is distinctively coloured by each document. Philippians is no exception in this regard: we need only remind ourselves of the first three verses to see that the letter forms part of this biblical image of Paul, with its numerous stereotypical Pauline phrases and expressions. Conversely, Lukes picture of Pauls ministry at Philippi inevitably informs ones reading of passages like Phil. 1.30 or the appeals to the citizenship motif in 3.20 and probably in 1.27
Wesley
and Barth.
Physical
or
present whenever anyone reads
or
to appreciate the extent to which our view of Paul is in turn shaped by Philippians in particular. For it is here that we meet the apostle who is confident and joyful in chains, who has left behind his nationalistic past and now displays an almost mystical zeal for Christ (ch. 3), who professes a deep contentment and sufficiency in all circumstances (ch. 4). Pauls Neronian imprisonment in the praetorium (1.12-14),~ his thoughts on his birth and upbringing (3.5-6) as well as his possible martyrdom (1.21-23; 3.10-14), all this has allowed Philippians to evoke a more complete image of the apostles whole life than some other epistles. In ways that may be intangible but no less real, Philippians has helped to define the Christian Wirkungsgeschichte of Paul the saint and the apostle. 20
(N.B. 1totto~at). At the same time, however, it is important
19. Cf., e.g., Theodore of Mopsuestia ad loc., who makes much of Pauls trial before Nero: H.B. Swete (ed.). Theodori Episcopi Mopsuesteni in Epistolas B. Pauli Commentarii (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1880), I, pp. 205206. 20. See also Wiles, Apostle, pp. 14-25, regarding the personal impact of St Paul on the Fathers, with reference to several passages in Philippians; note further W.S. Babcock (ed.), Paul and the Legacies of Paul (Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press, 1990); M.C. de Boer, Images of Paul in the Post-Apostolic Period, CBQ 42 (1980), pp. 359-80; E. Dassmann, Paulus in frühchristlicher Frömmigkeit und Kunst (Rheinisch-Westfälische Akademie der Wissenschaften, G 256; Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag, 1982); idem, Der Stachel im Fleisch: Paulus in der frühchristlichen Literatur bis Irenaeus (Münster: Aschendorff, 1979); A. Lindemann, Paulus im ältesten Christentum: Das Bild des Apostels und die Rezeption der paulinischen Theologie in der friihchristlichen Literatur bis Marcion (BHT, 58; Tübingen: Mohr [Siebeck], 1979); R. Noormann, Irenäus als
Paulusinterpret (WUNT, 2.66; Tübingen: Mohr [Siebeck], 1994).
66
Evidence. Having said all this, when it comes to the more specific and documented effects of Philippians, it must be said that the evidence is lamentably sparse and in any case extremely scattered. While it is well known that the story of the rich young ruler converted St Anthony and thus inspired the monastic movement (similarly cf. St Francis of Assisi), and that Rom. 1.16 sparked off the Lutheran Reformation, the case for Philippians is much harder going. This is due partly to the nature of the sources and partly to the literary characteristics of Philippians itself. Regarding the former, revisionists rightly point out that historiography of all ages tends to concentrate on events and developments on the grand scale, highlighting the perspectives of those in power and by and large ignoring what has sometimes been called the history of ordinary life. For that reason, much of the impact of Philippians on the lives of individuals and communities is probably beyond recovery, and what little I can offer in this regard must remain anecdotal, at best suggestive of a vast iceberg of Christian experience which lies very largely submerged beneath the waves of
Shortage of Specific
history.
what evidence we do have of biblical Wirkung.sgeschichte popular culture is, by and large, of little help with regard to Philippians. This is largely due to the second reason cited above, namely, the literary form and genre of the work. Prior to the advent of widespread literacy and the printing press, the Bible remained largely in the hands of scribes and churchmen. True, public reading and proclamation probably ensured that the New Testaments dissemination among ordinary people was nevertheless reasonably successful. But the evidence in art, architecture and literature of its impact on ordinary people seems by and large to bypass the New Testament epistles. Narrative lends itself far more easily to visual representation: Bible illustrations in the Biblia Pauperum, Books of Hours, and in early printed Bibles show a strong preponderance of Old Testament and Gospel stories as well as visual dramatizations of the Apocalypse. Paul and his epistles, by contrast, although read (in Latin) in the churches, remained relatively unfamiliar to the lay person.2 In the Biblia Pauperum, for instance, one only finds occasional allusions to Phil. 2.10
However,
even
in
Cf., e.g., M. Deanesly, The Lollard Bible and Other Medieval Biblical (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1920), p. 99 and n. 1, p. 305. Note, however, her observation on p. 129 n. 7: homilies on the Epistles did have
Versions
some
21.
circulation in the vernacular.
67 in connection with Christs resurrection and victory over Hades.22 A similar pattern is true of illustrations in the early printed Bibles. Thus, Lukas Cranachs illustrations of the epistles in Luthers 1522 German New Testament are typical in being restricted to a few title pages with traditional iconographic depictions of the apostle. 23 The same pattern of illustrations applies of course for stained-glass windows and for the whole gamut of biblical illustrations ranging through the Victorian period to the childrens Bibles of today. 21 This non-visual factor does not of course remove Philippians from the realm of effective history, but it is worth bearing in mind the extent to which it restricts the scope of available sources. Selection and Contextual Specificity. Inevitably, this study manifests a clear Western and indeed Anglophone concentration of evidence, especially with regard to the last two centuries. There may also be a certain denominational bias in favour of mainstream churchmanship. These limitations are due partly to the nature of the available evidence; some of them could no doubt be overcome by further research. This admittedly restricts the validity of my results. But as Luz also points out, if the results of Wirkungsgeschichte seem comparatively eclectic and dilettante, the effort is nevertheless necessary and valuable. 21 On the other hand, one might want to argue that successful Wirkungsgeschichte will inevitably be somewhat context specific in its treatment of the evidence. If the study of effective history should indeed aid the process of hermeneutics, then its usefulness may well be enhanced if, without neglecting any of the available evidence, an English study of the Wirkungsgeschichte of Philippians pays greater attention to the letters impact on the history and culture of the Englishspeaking world. Effective history with our particular cultural flavour
22. Cf. M. Berve, Die Armenbibel: Herkunft Gestalt Typologie (Beuron: Beuroner Kunstverlag, n.d. [1970?]). On the Biblia Pauperum, primers and Books of Hours, see further E. Duffy, The Stripping of the Altars (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992), pp. 225-32. 23. See K.A. Knappe, Bibelillustrationen, TRE 6 (1980), pp. 131-160(146). 24. Note, however, E. von Dobschütz, Der Apostel Paulus: Seine weltgeschichtliche Bedeutung (Halle: Waisenhaus, 1926), pp. 10, 17 and pl. 9, 18. He discusses (1) a tapestry by Raphael in the Vatican (1515-16) which shows Paul in the Philippian prison with the earthquake personified underground; and (2) a 1627 picture by Rembrandt showing Paul writing an epistle (Phil.?) from prison. 25. Luz, Matthäus, p. 79.
68
show us how we have become what we are in the light of the Bible, and sometimes how we might have been different or might become different.26 We must study our own Wirkungsgeschichte to understand our own biblical formation; that of other cultures, to learn the potential wealth of untapped meanings. This suggestion is of course debatable, but I offer it for consideration and discussion. Aside from that, the distinction between more or less important historical effects is also subject to debate. I have attempted to include a wide range of ancient and modern historical, academic and popular influences. Nevertheless, wherever a choice seemed unavoidable, I have tended, all else being equal, to favour examples which are demonstrably indicative of wider influence. This would include among others the Church Fathers, Councils, the Glossa Ordiriaria, leading reformers and key documents of popular religious movements, as likely to have exercised a broadly formative influence.
can
Effective History of Philippians as a Whole Having already referred to the general and to some extent intangible impact of Philippians as part of Scripture and of the work of St Paul, we shall now begin the discussion of specific evidence with a few of the earliest documented effects of the letter as a whole, before going on to address the influence of a few particular passages. Unfortunately, the archaeology of Philippi has turned up virtually nothing of any relevance,&dquo; although some excavations on the site are continuing. Our
Luz, Matthäus, pp. 79-80. See P. Collart, Philippes, Dictionnaire darchéologie chrétienne et de liturgie 14.1 (1939), pp. 712-41. Lamenting the subsequent obscurity of the church at Philippi, J.B. Lightfoot (Saint Pauls Epistle to the Philippians [London: Macmillan, 1896], p. 65 n. 3) refers only to one Flavianus, prelate of Philippi, who took part in the Council of Ephesus, 431 CE. E. Dassmann, however, considers that the existence of three sizable and lavish church buildings suggest the considerable
ecclesiastical significance of Philippi in later times (Archeological Traces of Early Christian Veneration of Paul, in Babcock [ed.], Paul, p. 288). Nevertheless, significant remains for our purposes include only a mosaic inscription noting the dedication of a fourth century basilica at Philippi to the Apostle Paul, and a local tradition of Pauls imprisonment recorded on late (tenth century?) frescoes in a converted cistern (see Dassmann, Archeological Traces, pp. 289-90, and in Paulus in frühchristlicher Frömmigkeit und Kunst, pp. 8-10 and figs. 1-3). The inscription, first published in 1975 by S.M. Pelekanides, reads, ΠOP[ΦY]PIOΣ EΠIΣKOlΠOΣ TH[N K]ENTHΣIN THΣ BAΣI&Lgr;IKHlΣ ΠAYAO[Y EΠ]OIHΣEN EN XP(IΣT)Ω, Bishop Porphyry made the mosaic of the Basilica of Paul, in Christ. It
26. 27.
The
69
evidence, therefore,
must be
literary.
We shall focus first
on
possible
inner-canonical evidence, secondly on Ignatius and Polycarp, and finally on the apocryphal Epistle to the Laodiceans.28 First, with the exception of Philemon, Philippians is the one Pauline
whose authenticity is almost universally accepted. At the theme of the apostle writing from prison in due time, course appears to have given rise to a whole genre of pseudonymous writings by or about the apostolic martyr figure. Many would argue that this genre is already present in the deutero-Pauline epistles of the New Testament, and some would even see specific examples of literary dependence on Philippians.29 Nevertheless, given the lack of explicit New Testament citations and the continuing diversity of opinion about matters of authorship, it is perhaps best to suspend judgment on the rather tenuous inner-biblical evidence. Secondly, the very tone of the apostolic martyrs correspondence from prison greatly influenced Ignatius of Antioch, whose letters
captivity epistle
the
same
pause for thought that this brief and obscure dedication nevertheless, in Dassmanns words, surpasses in age and certainty of date all other archeological evidences relating to Paul (Archeological Traces, p. 290 and n. 48). As early as 150 CE, the apocryphal Acts of Andrew 11-12, 15, 20 relates an otherwise unconfirmed tradition of St Andrews mission at Philippi, where he intervenes inter alia to prevent an incestuous marriage (ch. 11). See W. Schneemelcher (ed.), Neutestamentliche Apokryphen in deutscher Übersetzung (Tübingen: Mohr [Siebeck], 5th edn, 1989), II, pp. 107, 110-11. 28. It is worth noting L. Portefaixs feminist study, Sisters Rejoice: Pauls Letter to the Philippians and Luke-Acts as Seen by First-century Philippian Women (CBNT, 20; Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1988). This is a somewhat speculative, tenuous reader-oriented account of the impact of Philippians on women in Philippi. While rightly stressing the cultural and religious importance of women for the early Pauline mission to Macedonia (which was already noted by Lightfoot, Philippians, pp. 55-57), Portefaixs study unfortunately also manifests an overreliance of unproven connections and theories that might have been. On the ongoing influence of women in the pagan cult of Diana at Philippi, see further V. Abrahamsen, Christianity and the Rock Reliefs at Philippi, BA 51 (1988),
gives
pp. 46-56.
29. W. Schenk (Die Philipperbriefe des Paulus [Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1984], pp. 339-40) argues for a strong literary dependence in Colossians (esp. 1.22, 28, 29) and Acts 16.11-40, which, along with other allusions in Acts, he regards as freely invented on the basis of Philippians. Beyond that, he sees dependence in 2 Tim. 4.6-8 (Phil. 1.23, 30; 2.16-17; 3.12) and 1 Tim. 2.23; 2 Tim. 4.17 (Phil. 4.13).
See also below,
n.
55
on
Phil. 2.6-11.
70 abound with echoes of Philippians and other Pauline captivity epistles. Ignatius regards his imprisonment and his impending martyrdom as confirming the gospel;3 he longs through this to attain to Christ31 and to die in him,32 enduring all things through the one who strengthens him.33 Similarly, Polycarps widely read letter to the church at Philippi makes explicit reference to one or more letters to Philippi from the apostle Paul (3.2; 11.2) and manifests repeated allusions to Philippians (e.g. 1.2; 5.2);34 the same is true for the Martyrdom of Polycarp ( 1.2;
6.2).35
Our final illustration of the second-century Wirkungsgeschichte of is the Latin document known as the Epistle to the Laodiceans, a pseudonymous work probably compiled in the second or third century from various fragments of Pauline letters, almost certainly with the purpose of supplying the obvious lacuna in the Pauline correspondence indicated by Col. 4.16. While a number of questions (including the date) are unresolved, scholars are generally agreed that the compilers source texts include Philippians; indeed Philippians is by far the most important source. What has to my knowledge not been pointed out is that every single one of the eighteen-odd allusions and quotations from Philippians actually occurs in canonical sequence: 1.2, 3, 12, 13, 18, 19-20, 21; 2.2, 12, 13, 14; 3.1; 4.6, 8, 9, 22, 23. This cannot be accidental and suggests instead that the compiler actually worked through a complete copy of Pauls letter.36
Philippians
30. 31.
32. 33. 34. Pauls
Cf. Phil. 1.12-14 with Ignatius, Trall. 12.2; Rom. 4.1-2. Cf. Phil. 3.8ff. with Ignatius, Rom. 5.3; Phil. 3.9 with Ignatius,
Eph. 11.1;
Magn.9.1.
Cf. Phil. 1.21 with Ignatius, Rom. 6.1; 7.2. Cf. Phil. 4.13 with Ignatius, Smym. 4.2. The encouraging tone of Polycarps remarks suggests that in his view letter to Philippi had been successful. On the abiding popularity of Polycarp, Phil., arguably not least because of its association with St. Paul, note, e.g., Jeromes reference to it as valde utilem epistulam, quae usque hodie in Asiae conventu legitur (De viris inlustribus 17, MPL 23.635). 35. A remarkably useful collation of evidence from the Apostolic Fathers is still Scholia Hellenistica in Novum Testamentum (London: Pickering, 1848), II,
pp. 525-40.
36. Note, however, the gap after 3.1, which might be thought to correspond to the frequent critical assumption of a separate letter fragment in 3.2-4.3. Since completion of this article, a similar point has now been advanced by P. Sellew, Laodiceans and the Philippians Fragments Hypothesis, HTR 87 (1994), pp. 17-27.
71
later instances of the influence of Philippians as a whole, but we do not have space for them all here.37 A concluding, more light-hearted example may serve to illustrate the image in literature of the commentator on Philippians. Charlotte M. Yonge was an There
are numerous
37. One might point first to the presence of Philippians in the process of canonization. It appears in the late second-century Canon Muratori (for the date, see now W. Horbury, The Wisdom of Solomon in the Muratorian Fragment, JTS NS 45 [ 1994], pp. 158-59; contrast G.M. Hahneman, The Muratorian Fragment and the Date of the Canon [Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992], pp. 215-18), but is omitted, quite possibly in error (Cambridge History of the Bible, II, p. 52) from the sixthcentury Codex Claromontanus, which reflects the usage in Egypt c. 320 CE. Aside from misattributed work of Ambrosiaster along with the Glossa Ordinaria (on which see n. 16 above), the most widely used commentaries on Philippians in the Middle Ages were those of Peter Lombard (MPL 192.221-58) and later Thomas Aquinas (Super Epistolas S. Pauli Lectura [ed. P. Raphael Cai; Turin: Marietti, 8th edn, 1953], II, pp. 89-123). The formers hugely influential Sentences also ensured that his commentary on the letters of Paul received early and wide circulation: his work on Philippians is cited as early as 1142, barely two years after its composition. See C.P. Spicq, Esquisse dune histoire de lexégése latine au Moyen Age (Paris: Vrin, 1944), pp. 126, 298; cf. I.C. Brady, Peter Lombard, New Catholic Encyclopaedia 11 (1967), p. 221. Note also F. Stegmüller, Repertorium Commentariorum in Sententias Petri Lombardi (2 vols.; Würzburg: Schöningh,
1947).
Philippians was a favourite text of the famous Dutch mystic Jan van Ruysbroeck
49 (1995), pp. 70-72. (1293-1381): cf. e.g. E.L. Babinsky, Philippians 3:7-15, Int Martin Luthers 1522 (and 1546) Preface to his German New Testament
introduces the letter and refers to Pauls enemies as false Apostles who are characterized in telling fashion as teachers of works (Werck Lerer) who are propounding a faithless and human righteousness. William Tyndales preface in his translation of 1534 appears to be a poor but verbatim translation of Luther. In 1551 Philip Melanchthon wrote a letter to John Mathesius, the pastor of the mining town of Joachimsthal. In it he commends the preaching on Philippians, as addressed by Paul to a highly praised church, in a town with gold mines (Corpus Reformatorum [ed. C.G. Bretschneider; Halle: Schwetschke, 1840), VII, p. 805. The dominant and consistent note of joy in Philippians has frequently inspired Christian scholarship and piety alike. J.A. Bengel famously (and perhaps not
altogether inappropriately: see esp. 2.17-18 in the Vulgate) expressed the essence of the epistle in the pithy phrase, summa epistolae: gaudeo, gaudete-the sum of the epistle: I rejoice, and you should rejoice (Gnomon Novi Testamenti [Stuttgart: Steinkopf, 1860], p. 766). Christian joy, hope and love are repeatedly illustrated from Philippians in Jonathan Edwardss influential Treatise Concerning Religious Affections: see, e.g., Religious Affections, Classics of Faith and Devotion (ed.
J.M. Houston; Portland: Multnomah,
1984), pp. 13,
17.
72
Victorian novelist. In The Pillars of the House she (1873), presents Mr Underwood as a well-bred but underpaid curate who devotes his limited free time to a commentary on Philippians (I, p. 31 ). In a difficult situation he finds himself encouraged by the verse Look not every man on his own things (p. 35). Dying young, he leaves his commentary melodramatically unfinished at the words Yea, and if I be offered...,which are made the sermon text in the parish church on the following Sunday (p. 63).38 The fact that Yonge would give Philippians such a pride of place in her novel almost certainly suggests something of the significance of this and other Pauline epistles in the popular mind of Victorian England. This last illustration leads us naturally to the next section, that of a commentators approach to the problem of effective history.
extremely popular
A Commentators Approach to Wirkungsgeschichte Despite my earlier comments about the influence of Philippians as a whole, Luzs observation about the effective history of Matthew39 is true for this letter as well: the lions share of its influence has been linked to a few individual verses and pericopes. These in turn served to illuminate not so much Philippians in particular but Christian faith and life in its entirety. It is here that the commentary turns out to be a particularly useful vehicle for the concise discussion of effective
history, sequentially pericope by pericope.

For purposes of illustration, then, I propose to offer three of the most influential passages in Philippians. Three
a
quick survey of
Examples
Philippians 1.21-23 In the context of discussing his imprisonment, Paul reflects on the possibility of his martyrdom: To me, living is Christ and dying is gain.
If I
live in the flesh, that means fruitful labour for me; and I do prefer. I am hard pressed between the two: my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. Together with at best a handful of other verses (e.g. Lk. 23.43;
am
to
not know which I
38. I am indebted to Dr Horbury for these references. On the work of C.M. Yonge and her popularity see M. Mare and A.C. Percival, Victorian Bestseller : The World of Charlotte M. Yonge (London: Harrap, 1947). 39. Luz, Matthäus, p. 78.
73 Jn 14.2-3, 2 Cor. 5.1-9; Heb. 12.23), this passage has been perhaps the most important New Testament passage for the view of the Christian passing directly through death to the afterlife.&dquo; Without exaggeration, it is possible to say that this passage in Philippians substantially contributed to the very widespread Christian view of immediate immortality (when you die you go to heaven ). We need not here be detained by arguments about the possible development in Pauls eschatology since 1 Thessalonians 4; suffice it to say that the real possibility of his own death before the parousia, which was explicitly on Pauls mind at least since 2 Corinthians 1, appears to colour his perspective in the later letters. Thus death as gain and as going to be with the Lord is a constant theme in the Church Fathers, beginning with Clement of Rome, 41I Polycarp and Ignatiuss letter to Rome (6.1 ). Phil. 1.23 is repeatedly quoted and alluded to in Tertullian, Origen and the Cappadocian Fathers .4 Indeed one could argue that the majority patristic notion of the souls transport to heaven is fundamentally related to this passage, while on the other hand Charles E. Hill has recently shown that the early chiliasts almost entirely ignore it in formulating their doctrine of the intermediate state. 44 This may well represent an early case of the strategic omission, not to say repression, of a passage from Philippians. In the course of Christian history, however, the motifs of Christian death as an advantage and of dying to be with the Lord became an
reminds me that other, compatible if less explicit passages of Christian views of life after death must undoubtedly include Job 19.25-27 and 1 Cor. 15.20-58, both of which were appointed for the Burial service of the Book of Common Prayer, following the office for the dead in the Sarum Missal. 41. 1 Clem. 5.4, 7; cf. 45.7. 42. Polycarp, Phil. 9.2 (Paul et al. are now with the Lord, ϵ&iacgr;σ&iacgr; παρ&a cgr; τω &kap a;vρíω). Cf. Mart. Pol. 19.2. 43. E.g. Tertullian, Cast. 12.3; Pat. 9.5; Spect. 28.5; Uxor. 1.5.1. For detailed references see Biblia Patristica: Index des citations et allusions bibliques dans la littérature patristique (5 vols.; Paris: Editions du Centre National de la Recherche
40.
Dr
Horbury
on
great influence
Scientifique, 1975-91).
Regnum Caelorum: Patterns of Future Hope in Early Oxford University Press, 1992), pp. 159-60. He also demonstrates among other things that Tertullian changed his mind from a position where the soul goes directly to heaven to his later Montanist view that all souls are shut up in Hades (pp. 26-27 and n. 46). Christianity (Oxford:
44.
See C.E. Hill,
74
almost universal commonplace.45 The story is told of St Martin of Tours that, aged 80, he allowed himself to be persuaded by his disciples to pray for the prolongation of his days.46 Dying to be with Christ is a theme found in the Imitation of Christ ( 1.12), in Miltons Paradise Lost (11.40-43) and in a moving pastoral letter of Thomas More. 41 Countless other popular religious applications could be cited, including significant hymns about going to be with Jesus when we die. But there are also numerous cases of transposed secular allusions, such as King Harry in Shakespeares Henry V: And dying so, death is to him advantage (4.1.192-93). More specifically, Phil. 1.23 served Thomas Aquinas in opposing the idea of an intermediate state after death 41 and the Reformers in their arguments against the doctrine of purgatory. 49 Richard Baxter wrote a book on the passage for his own comfort in facing death;5 and the passage was also prominent in the preaching of
1
45. Indeed it may be that pre-Christian popular culture was already receptive to similar ideas. Antigones admittedly rather more fatalistic reflection on her premature death as &kap a;&eacgr;ρδo&sfgr; may be relevant here (see P. Antin, Mori Lucrum et Antigone 424, 464, RSR 62 [1974], pp. 259-60; L.G. Bloomquist, The Function of Suffering in Philippians [JSNTSup, 78; Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1993], p. 154), as is perhaps Pauls own appeal in Rom. 5.7 to popular presuppositions about dying for
a
good cause or person.
46. D.H. Farmer, The Oxford Dictionary of Saints (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1978), p. 266. Cf. F.R. Hoare (trans. and ed.), The Western Fathers (London: Sheed & Ward, 1954); C.F.R. Montalembert, The Monks of the West from St Benedict to
St Bernard (Edinburgh/London: Blackwood, 1896), I, p. 344. 47. Thomas More, Letter to Meg Roper (Rogers 211). See G. Marchadour, The Bible in the Works of Thomas More (Nieuwkoop: de Graaf, 1971), IV, p. 89. 48. Thomas Aquinas, Comm. on Philippians 1, Lectio III 35 (ed. Cai, p. 97):
In quo notatur falsitas opinionis Graecorum, quod animae Sanctorum post mortem statim sunt cum Christo. 49. See P. Althaus, The Theology of Martin Luther (trans. R.C. Schultz; Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1966), pp. 413-14.; H. Schmid, Doctrinal Theology of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (trans. C.A. Hay and H.E. Jacobs; Minneapolis: Augsburg, 3rd edn, 1899), p. 638. See also more generally the Thirty-Nine Articles, No. XXII. Professor H. Chadwick suggests to me that the early Churchs understanding would have been to apply Phil. 1.23 to martyrs and apostles only, while others needed purification in purgatory (Letter, 16 October 1994). 50. Richard Baxters dying thoughts upon Phil. I. 23: written for his own use in the latter times of his corporal pains and weakness (London: Thos. Snowden for B. Simmons; 2nd edn, 1688 [1683]).
non
75
the Puritan Revival in New England.5 Its relevance for a context of martyrdom can readily be illustrated with examples from Ignatius of Antioch all the way to contexts of persecution in the twentieth century.52 In the end, the precise Wirkungsgeschichte of Phil. 1.21-23 clearly far outstrips the explicit citations and allusions. It blends seamlessly with the history of a number of other biblical passages which have formed and informed Christian doctrine and served to provide comfort and assurance to countless Christian believers over the centuries.
1 Philippians 2.5-11
If such claims may to some readers seem bold, an even stronger case is certainly justified in the case of Phil. 2.5-11. Perhaps no other Pauline pericope has been the subject of such sustained critical attention over the past thirty years of New Testament study; the bibliography of scholarly books and articles amounts to several hundred entries. Even the most thorough historical-critical efforts, however, by and large confine themselves to the many exegetical problems intrinsic to the passage itself. That is to say, most exegetes are interested in the passage because of the crucial difficulties it raises with regard to literary form, religious background and authorship, as well as several ambiguities residing in the text itself. Does the hymn intend a moral imitatio Christi, or not? Does it predicate the pre-existence of Christ, or not? Which of more than twenty possible approaches offers the correct meaning of p1taYll? These and other issues have kept professionals and students alike more than busy. This critical work has in some respects brought significant advances in our understanding of these verses in their original setting, while leaving a number of important questions hotly debated. However, what has generally been overlooked in this flurry of scholarly activity is the far more wide-ranging formative importance which the passage has in fact had in the history of Christian doctrine, life and worship. If the hymns authorship were indeed pre-Pauline, then Philippians itself could be said to be part of the passages Wirkungsgeschichte, quite
51. J. Edwards, Sermons and Discourses 1720-1723 (ed. W.H. Kimnach; New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992), pp. 563-91: Living to Christ and Dying to
Gain,
two sermons
preached on one day.
52. See, e.g., the sermon by the revered Pastor Angeloff, persecuted in Communist Bulgaria, in L.A. Drummond (ed.), Here They Stand: Biblical Sermons from Eastern Europe (London: Marshall, Morgan & Scott, 1976), pp. 162-65.
76
early Christian texts which allude to similar language.53 regardless of this question, Phil. 2.5-11 in its canonical function is certainly one of the most influential passages in patristic literature, beginning with the Apostolic Fathers, Justin, Melito,
possibly along
with other
But
Tertullian, Irenaeus and Clement of Alexandria.

In the christological debate of the early centuries the argument about the condescension and incarnation of a pre-existent divine Christ takes as one of its key points of departure this passage from Philippians. For Tertullian, Philippians 2 was a linchpin of his Christology of two substances, which later became the doctrine of the two natures of Christ.54 The Fathers since Tertullian use this passage to stress the personal relevance of Christs loving obedience at the cross for the individual Christian and for the Church,55 a theme which, drawing in passages like Gal. 2.20, reverberates through the entire history of Christian piety and worship. At the same time, the example of Christs obedience served repeatedly as an inspiration to martyrs.56 St Hilary of Poitiers, too, uses the Christ hymn with very great frequency, especially in his Tractate on the Psalms; for him, the passage proves that the risen and exalted Christ is totus Deus, totus hottio. -57 For Gregory of Nyssa and Cyril of Alexandria, the kellosis theme of this passage proved particularly rich and fertile theological soil, which they ploughed well and often. 58 In particular, Gregory saw in Phil. 2.6 proof of Christs consubstantiality with the Father, while 2.10 seemed to furnish support for the doctrine of the apocatastasis, the restoration of all things, in which even demons and the wicked would be reconciled. 59
53. O. Hofius (Der Christushymnus Philipper 2,6-11: Untersuchungen zu Gestalt und Aussage eines urchristlichen Psalms [WUNT, 17; Tübingen: Mohr (Siebeck), 2nd rev. edn, 1991], pp. 76-92) would cite 2 Cor. 5.19 and especially Eph. 1.21; Heb. 1.2-14 as other examples (but note pp. 101-102 on Heb. 1.13). 54. B. de Margerie, Introduction à lhistoire de lexégèse (Paris: Cerf, 198083), II, pp. 48-49. 55. Pro te ... pro nobis: De Fuga in Persec. 12; similarly Augustine, Confessions 10.43. On Augustines use of Phil. 2.5-11, see further A. Verwilghen, Christologie et spiritualité selon saint Augustin: Lhymne aux Philippiens (Paris:
Beauchesne, 1985).
56. See already Eusebiuss account of the martyrs of Lyon, Eccl. Hist. 5.2.2. 57. De Margerie, Introduction, II, p. 81. 58. See, e.g., de Margerie, Introduction, I, pp. 255, 282-88. 59. Adv. Apoll. 20, MPG 45.1164A-B; Adv. Eunomium 4, MPG 45.672A. Cf. L.F. Mateo-Seco, Kenosis, exaltación de Cristo y apocatastasis en la a
exegesis
77
cites Phil. 2.5-11 in almost half of his 29 paschal In his humanization (vav0pllxqJiq) Christ undergoes no homilies. in his variation divinity, but remains the same forever. Contrary to kenotic some modern theologians,6 for Cyril the kenosis is not a of nor the exaltation an adoptionist accretion of diminution, process divinity. Instead, the process is one of assuming humanity (1tpocra~rov as explaining the Pauline kup6v of 2.7), all the while retaining his inherent divinity and glory.6 As in some modem scholarship, Christs obedience in this passage is repeatedly contrasted with that of Adam (e.g. in Irenaeus and Augustine 62). Our passage was apparently no less popular in heterodox circles; it is particularly intriguing that two such contrary Christologies as the Gnostic and the Arian both employed it. There is good evidence for Gnostic use of 2.7 in support of the idea of a descending heavenly redeemer 63 while 2.9-11 were clearly also used.64 Arians, on the other hand, particularly liked to cite vv. 9-10 to strengthen their case that
Cyril similarly
Filipenses 2,5-11 de S. Gregorio de Nisa, Scripta Theologica 3 (1971), pp. 301-42, cited in de Margerie, Introduction, I, p. 255. 60. The kenotic doctrine, championed in England by P.T. Forsyth and others, had its origin among nineteenth-century German Lutheran scholars such as
Gottfried Menken and Gottfried Thomasius. See E. Hirsch, Geschichte der neuern evangelischen Theologie (Gütersloh: Bertelsmann, 1954), V, pp.387-92. M. Breidert, Die kenotische Christologie des 19. Jahrhunderts (Gütersloh: Gerd Mohn, 1977), pp. 24-29 regards nineteenth-century kenotic Christology as a response to the radical historical criticism initiated by D.F. Strauss, an attempt to bridge the Jesus of history and the Christ of dogma. See Breidert, Die kenatische Christologie, pp. 278-97 for the additional influence of the dialectic of Schelling and Hegel.
Margerie, Introduction, I, pp. 286, 288. Irenaeus, Haer. 5.16.3; Augustine, Civ. Dei 14.15. Cf., e.g., J.D.G. Dunn, Christology in the Making (London: SCM Press, 1980), pp. 114-21 and passim. 63. See Hippolytus, Ref. 5.19.21; Clement of Alexandria, Excerpta ex Theodoto 35.1. Note also the Asc. Isa. 8.9-10; 9.13. Daniélou (Theology of Jewis h Christianity, pp. 157-63) throws light on the significance of passages like 2.10 for the Name theology of Gnosticism; see also J. Fossum, The Name of God and the Angel of the Lord: Samaritan and Jewish Concepts of Intermediation and the Origins of Gnosticism (WUNT, 36; Tübingen: Mohr [Siebeck], 1985), passim. 64. Acts of Thomas 2.27; Clement of Alexandria, Excerpta ex Theodoto 43.4; Prayer of the Apostle Paul, 1.11 (see B. Layton, The Gnostic Scriptures: A New Translation with Annotations and Introductions [London: SCM Press, 1987], p. 305).
61. 62.
See de
78
Christ was not eternally co-equal to the Father. In reply, Athanasius and his followers argued that 2.6 shows Christ to be already equal to God in the pre-incarnate state,65 and therefore that vv. 9-10 must relate the humiliation and exaltation only to Christs human nature.66 Marius Victorinus,67 Augustine and others continued this tradition, 61 while on the other hand Nestorius, too, appealed to Phil. 2.6-7 for his particular view of Christology.69 Phil. 2.6-8 continued to contribute considerably to the understanding of the incarnation throughout church history. In the Middle Ages, the phrase ~iop(p~ 8oi)kot) (2.7) served Byzantine preachers in the dispute against the iconoclasts.70 Anselm of Canterbury gave pride of place to our passage in his famous work on the Incarnation, Cur Deus Homo (chs. 8-10). Together with other passages, Phil. 2.8-9 in particular shows that Christs death was both truly voluntary and an act of obedience: for this is simple and true obedience, when the rational nature, not of necessity but willingly, keeps the will that it has received from God .71 Martin Luther, whose works contain over 50 treatments of this passage,72 put the Vulgates phrase forma Dei in 2.6 to somewhat
Oratio contra Arianos 4.6 (Ps.-Athanasius?). Oratio contra Arianos 1.37-41, 44, 47. See Cambridge History of the Bible, I, p. 444. 67. Adversus Arium 1.45 (on 2.7). See also his Commentary on Philippians ad loc.: Franco Gori (ed.), Mario Vittorino: Commentari alle Epistole di Paolo agli Efesini, ai Galati, ai Filippesi (Corona Patrum, 8; Turin: Società Editrice
65. 66.
Internazionale, 1981), pp. 328-38. 68. See, e.g., Augustine, Contra Sermonem Arianorum 8 (MPL 42.688). Wiles (Divine Apostle, pp. 86-87) points out that only a minority, including Ambrosiaster, stressed the kenosis as indicating Christs full divinity in the world. Note also, with care, F. Loofs, Das altkirchliche Zeugnis gegen die herrschende Auffassung der Kenosisstelle (Phil 2,5-11), TSK 100 (1927), pp. 1-102, esp. 80-88. 69. A. Grillmeier, Christ in Christian Tradition. I. From the Apostolic Age to Chalcedon (451) (trans. J. Bowden; London: Mowbrays, rev. edn, 1975), p. 511. 70. See the anonymous tenth-eleventh century sermon reproduced as Beilage VIB in E. von Dobschütz, Christusbilder: Untersuchungen zur christlichen Legende (TU, NS 3; Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1899), p. 235 line 25. 71. Anselm, Cur Deus Homo 10 (E.R. Fairweather [trans. and ed.], A Scholastic
Miscellany: Anselm to Ockham [Library of Christian Classics, 9; London: SCM Press, 1967], p. 116). 72. For a complete listing, see T. Beer, Der fröhliche Wechsel und Streit: Grundzüge der Theologie Martin Luthers (Einsiedeln: Johannes Verlag, 1980),
p. 353
n.
4.
79
use. Instead of interpreting it in the conventional way of Christs eternal and pre-existent deity, Luther relates it to that part of his nature which he shares and communicates with us. Just as Christ experiences in himself both humiliation and exaltation, so also the
unexpected
Christian.&dquo; Indeed in his
further, including in Christs humiliation
the passage Luther goes still even his submission to human sin and to Satan: though he was holy, he became a sinner, both alive and dead.74 Christ takes on not just body and soul, but indeed all our weaknesses that pertain to both, including even fear, sadness, anger and hatred,75 thereby becoming, in Luthers startling translation of 2.7, Just like any other human being.6 The wider dissemination of the Pauline epistles in the Reformation also meant the inclusion of key passages like Phil. 2.5-11 in catechisms, such as the briefly famous one of John Ponet, bishop of Winchester in 1552. 77 Moving beyond the realm of Christian doctrine, the Christ hymn of Philippians had enormous influence on piety as well as on literature and music. It suffuses Bernard of Clairvauxs sermons on the Song of Songs, which use especially vv. 6-7 to illustrate how meditation on Christs humiliation enables a Christ-like re-ordering of human love, from concupiscence to charity. 71 St Francis of Assisi reportedly
sermons on
73.
See Beer, Wechsel, pp. 85-86, 263, with
special
reference to Luthers
Fastenpostille of 1525 (Weimar edn., XVII.2, pp. 238-45). See further E. Ellwein (ed.), D. Martin Luthers Epistel-Auslegung (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1973), III, pp. 193-212 and passim.
74. Beer, Wechsel, p. 336 and n. 44: Luthers sermon of 5 April 1528, Weimar edn, XXVII, p. 93. See further Beer, Wechsel, pp. 354-74: Christ became a sinner not in action but in being, i.e. in the state of the damned, illustrated in his descent to Hades. In this
sense as
subjectively, as well pp. 189-90.

75. 14. 76.
Luthers nach seinen
only, he became a sinner even psychologically and objectively (p. 359). Cf. U. Asendorf, Die Theologie Martin Predigten (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1988),
to Weimar
Asendorf, Theologie, p. 189, with reference

Christ ward
edn, XLII, pp. 210-
gleich
wie ein anderer Mensch, for
σχ&e acgr;ματi ϵ&uacgr;ρϵ&thetas;ϵ&iacgr;&sfgr;
&a cgr;ν&thetas;ρωπo&sfgr;.
77. The Short Catechisme 1553 (Latin 1552) quotes Phil. 2.8-10 in support of the doctrine of the Incarnation. See T.H.L. Parker, English Reformers (Library of Christian Classics, 26; London: SCM Press, 1966), p. 165. 78. See K. Walsh et al. (trans.), Bernard of Clairvaux: On the Song of Songs (Cistercian Fathers Series; 4 vols.; Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1979-83): the Scripture Index lists over 25 references to Phil. 2.6-10. Note especially 45.9:
80 humbled himself in begging for alms even when a guest of the prominent Bishop of Ostia, because the Great King and Lord of all willingly became for us the servant of all.79 The great importance of our passage in English literature has repeatedly been pointed out.8 Allusions to the passage understandably abound in such writings as Dante and Shakespeare,8 Milton,82 George Herbert and John Bunyan.83 Liturgically, echoes of our passage are probably present as early as the Nicene and Athanasian Creeds (of one substance with the Father, equal to God, etc.) and perhaps in the Te Deum (Thou didst not abhor
the virgins womb). There is, moreover,
an almost boundless influence in Christian the passage continues to give rise to new popular hymns and
hymnody;
How beautiful you appear to the angels, Lord Jesus, in the form of God, eternal, begotten before the daystar amid the splendours of heaven, the radiant light of Gods glory and the perfect copy of his nature, the unchanging and untarnished brightness of eternal life! How beautiful you are to me, my Lord, even in the very discarding of your beauty! When you divested yourself of the native radiance of the unfailing light, then your kindness was thrown into relief, your love shone out more brightly... (ital. mine). Cf. further the introduction by M.C. Halflants, Bernard of
Clairvaux, I, pp. xix-xxi. 79. R.B. Brooke, Scripta Leonis, Rufini et Angeli Sociorum S. Francisci (Oxford Medieval Texts; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1970), pp. 196-97: qui cum sit Dominus omnium, pro nobis fieri uoluit seruus omnium. I am grateful to
Professor
Christopher
Brooke of Caius
College, Cambridge
for
pointing
out this
passage. 80. See, e.g., N. Frye, The Great Code: The Bible and Literature (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1983), p. 129. 81. Dante, Divina Commedia, Paradiso 7.119-20 (the Son of God humbled Him so / That He became incarnated in man). The Earl of Warwick in Henry VI Part Two 3.2.154-55 speaks of that dread King that took our state upon Him to free us from the Fathers wrathful curse. 82. See, e.g., Milton, Paradise Lost 3.321-22; 5.607-608, 815-18 (all 2.10); 3.306, probably interpreting 2.6 in an Arian sense (see J. Carey and A. Fowler [eds.], The Poems of John Milton [London: Longmans, Green & Co, 1968], p. 578); 10.214-215 (2.7). Cf. further T.J. OKeeffe, Milton and the Pauline Tradition (Washington, DC: University Press of America, 1982), p. 301 and passim. 83. G. Herbert, Love, III. On Bunyan see, e.g., Pilgrims Progress (ed. J.B. Wharey; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1960), p. 52: He had stript himself of his glory that he might do this [i.e. die on the Cross] for the Poor. Cf. more generally R.S. Beal, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners: John Bunyans Pauline Epistle, Studies in English Literature 21 (Houston, TX, 1981), pp. 147-60.
81
choruses to this day. 84 There are also well over 30 significant choral arrangements based on Phil. 2.5-11, including many by famous composers like Palestrina, Anton Bruckner and Healey Willan. 85 After vv. 6-8 about the incarnation and humiliation of Christ, undoubtedly the most prominent part of this passage is the statement about his ascension and glorification in vv. 9-10. With its reference to the name above every name to whom every knee shall bow, this text has had a remarkable history well outside the precincts of theological academia. The earliest reference is probably in Polycarps letter to the Philippians (2. 1),86 with innumerable later citations. For Irenaeus, the Christology of this verse was integral to the Rule of Faith, and defined the very purpose of the parousia. 87 Among the masses of evidence which might be cited on 2.9-10 alone, it is worth referring briefly to the remarkable history of devotion to the name of Jesus. Christian reverence of the name of Jesus has been widespread since earliest times; indeed there is some indication that the supposedly magical power of the name was even used by nonChristians.&dquo; The second-century Epistle of Barnaba,s offers a famous gematria on the name of Jesus (9.8),89 while from the fourth century on the Greek abbreviation IHC is widely found. In the West this was usually latinized to IHS from the sixth century onwards. It was not until the later middle ages, however, that devotion to the holy name really came into its own. In popular hymnody one might note Bernard of Clairvauxs hymn, Jesu dulcis memoria, translated by John Mason
84. E. Earth Has
v.
E.g.
Many.
Noble
City (Prudentius,
vv.
348-413 CE, trans.
Caswall),
2; Hark, the Herald Angels Sing,
2-3; May the Mind of Christ
Saviour (K.B. Wilkinson); several of Graham Kendricks songs, including Meekness and Majesty etc. 85. See, e.g., the 34 listed in J. Laster (comp.), Catalogue of Choral Music Arranged in Biblical Order (Metuchen/London: Scarecrow, 1983), pp. 222-23. 86. Cf. possibly Asc. Isa. 10.15. 87. Irenaeus, Haer. 1.10.1; cf. 4.24.2; 3.12.9. 88. See Acts 19.13 and Greek magical papyri. In Gnosticism note the Coptic Gospel of Philip 54.5-8 (NHC II 3); Acts of Thomas 27; cf. also Hofius, Christushymnus (2nd edn), p. 109 n. 5, and Fossum, Name of God, pp. 95-98. For a much later period note, e.g., the article Schreiben, etc. in Handwörterbuch des deutschen Aberglaubens (Berlin: de Gruyter, 1941), IX, pp. 319, 321. 89. Gen. 14.14: the 318 men born in Abrahams house can be transcribed in Greek numerals as TIH, i.e. the Cross (T) of IHσo&uacgr;&sfgr; (note that the rabbis explained the 318 as a gematria on the name Eliezer, cf. Gen. 15.2).
My
82
as Jesu, the very thought of Thee (Hymns Ancient & Modern, 178). Most especially, however, it was San Bernardino of Siena, the great Franciscan preacher of the Italian Renaissance, who popularized the IHS (or YHS) siglum in the church and in popular piety. It was his
Neale
custom to pass around a small plaque on which was engraved the emblem YHS, surrounded by the Vulgate text of Phil. 2.10. His fervent and widely admired preaching of devotion to the name of Jesus incurred the animosity of rival monastic orders, which eventually led to his being tried but then acquitted before Pope Martin V.9 The YHS siglum as such later spread far beyond Italy and was widely misunderstood (sometimes with magical connotations) in an age that did not know Greek. Acrostic interpretation were particularly common, such as Jesus Hominum Salvator or, among Jesuits, Jesum habemus SOciU111. Related developments in subsequent times included the designation of the second Sunday after Epiphany&dquo; as the feast of the Name of Jesus. This was celebrated by the Franciscans from 1530, became prescribed by Pope Innocent XIII in 1721, and was suppressed in 1969. 92 In England, too, the cult of the Holy Name of Jesus spread as early as the fifteenth century, and the feast of the Holy Name was established through the patronage of Lady Margaret Beaufort, who also commissioned a prayer book including a considerable series of devotions de nomine Ihesu .93 The Sarum rite and the Book of Common Prayer came to appoint the feast day of the Holy Name for 7 August. In this context it is also worth noting the foundation of Jesus and Christs Colleges at Oxford and Cambridge. Thus Phil. 2.10 contributed fundamentally to the abiding popularity of such devotion to Jesus, certain less salubrious connotations notwithstanding.9a 90. See I. Origo, The World of San Bernardino (London: Jonathan Cape, 1963), pp. 117-30 and fig. xvi; A.G. Ferrers Howell, St Bernardino of Siena (London: Methuen, 1913), pp. 158-62. 91. The date changed several times, to 14 January, and later 2 January.
92. The feast is still maintained on 2 January in the American Book of Common Prayer. See the Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, articles IHS (p. 690), Name of Jesus (p. 953) and Name of Jesus, Feast of (pp. 953-54). Note further B. Ott, IHS, Lexikon der Christlichen Ikonographie, II (Freiburg: Herder,
1980), p. 337. 93. See Duffy, Stripping of the Altars, pp. 274-85, esp. 284. Cf. further L. Pullan, Religion since the Reformation (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1924), appendix. 94. The Office and Mass for this feast were composed by Bernardino dei Busti
83
English popular piety continued its interaction with Phil. 2.9-10. Liturgically, another ancient practice is that of bowing at the name of Jesus during the recitation of the Creed, quite probably based on Phil. 2.10. It was approved in 1559 by Queen Elizabeth, apparently enforcing current custom, and then reaffirmed in canon 18 of 1604.95 In later hymnody John Newtons How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds (Hymns A. & M., 176) probably belongs here,96 as do many later nineteenth-century hymns (e.g. Caroline Noels At the Name of Jesus,
A. &
M., 306; William Walsham Hows Jesus, Name of Wondrous Love); twentieth-century hymnody is not far behind.9 Anecdotal
evidence could be
multiplied,9 but the case is clearly well established.
Philippians 3.20
For my third and rather briefer example, I should like to concentrate on Phil. 3.20 with its assertion that our citizenship is in heaven. Beginning with the early patristic period, this passage (in practice inseparable from Phil. 1.27) has had an enormous influence on Christian attitudes to life in this world. Even Clement of Rome and Polycarp already encouraged the Corinthian and Philippian churches to practise the conduct of those who live without regrets as citizens in the city of God (I Clem. 54.4; cf. 3.4; 21.1; Polycarp, Phil. 5.2; Ep. Diogn. 5.9); echoes of this same attitude recur in the Epistula Apostolorum (38, 47). Not surprisingly, perhaps, patristic sources also record considerable
(d. 1500), a noted anti-Jewish preacher. The anti-Semitic potential of the Wirkungsgeschichte of Philippians would also be worth tracing for 3.2-3. 95. See Bowing, Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, pp. 192-93; F. Proctor and W.H. Frere, A New History of the Book of Common Prayer (London:
n. 2. Professor Chadwick assures me that the name of Jesus was bowing certainly pre-Reformation practice in England (Letter, 16 October 1994). 96. Professor Christopher Brooke suggests to me in a letter of 22 August 1994 that this hymn clearly owed more to St Paul than to Catholic tradition. 97. Note some of the numerous choruses of recent years, including Jesus, Name above All Names and He is Lord. Similar ancient and modem hymns exist in other languages, not least in German. 98. Of Christina Rossetti it is reported that she refused to step on scraps of torn paper in case the name of Jesus was written on them; the legendary Stradivarius reputedly marked every violin with the name of Jesus (hence the term Stradivari del Gesù). See J.T. Stoddart, The New Testament in Life and Literature (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1914), p. 356.
Macmillan, 1905), pp. 391-92 and

at
84
interest in Phil. 3.20 and the notion of heavenly citizenship in Valentinian and Sethian Gnostic circles.99 Most typically, Phil. 3.20 is cited in the patristic literature in association with New Testament passages about pilgrimage and life as an alien (e.g. 1 Pet. 2; Heb. 11, esp. v. 16), or with those about the Jerusalem above (Gal. 4; Rev. 21), along with related Old Testament psalms (note esp. Ps. 87). In this sense our passage from Philippians contributed significantly to the formulation of the idea of Christians as belonging to the heavenly city. While some Christians understood this heavenly citizenship as a future prize reserved for martyrs and other faithful saints, a second line of thought described it as the present experience of all Christians. 102 Possibly as a result of the decline in martyrdom, there appears in some cases to be a movement away from an eschatological understanding (based on an acute conflict of loyalties) to one of gradual progress and aspiration towards a goal. By the same token, the Pauline terminology of heavenly citizenship (1totn:~Hx) tends to give way to that of a heavenly city or commonwealth (1tottEa), for instance in Cyprian and above all in Origen, who has more than 40 uses of Phil. 3.20.103 While it would be unwarranted and somewhat anachronistic to draw very clear lines of distinction, it does seem that the Alexandrian and later Fathers de-emphasize future eschatology in favour of a continual ascent, for which the image of heavenly citizenship marks both the destination and the distinctive character of the Christian pilgrim.104 In
99. See Clement of Alexandria, Excerpta ex Theodoto 54.3; Hippolytus, Ref. 5.21.7. 100. J. Roldanus, Références patristiques au "chrétien-étranger" dans les trois premiers siécles, Cahiers de Biblica Patristica 1 (1987), pp. 27-52 (28-29, esp. 4145), and the references listed there; see also H. Leisegang, Der Ursprung der Lehre Augustius von der civitas dei, Archiv für Kirchengeschichte 16 (1925), pp. 127-58. 101. E.g. Tertullian, Mart. 3; idem, Adv. Marc. 3.24.3; Cyprian, Ep. 76; cf. Hippolytus, Refut. 10.34; Methodius, Banquet 8.6. See further Roldanus, Références patristiques, p. 42. 102. Thus the Epistle to Diognetus, Tertullians De Corona and Clement of Alexandrias Protrepticus; also the latters Paed. 3.99.1 (where πoλiτϵιϵσ&thetas;αi &eacgr;ν o&uacgr;ρανoîς = being a disciple on earth); Strom. 4.12 (Gal. 6.14 I live already as a citizen of heaven). 103. See already I Clem. 54.4, cited earlier. 104. See Roldanus, Références patristiques, pp. 43-44, references on p. 51 nn. 92-93. Roldanus would confirm an influence of Philo, but without affirming the
=
85
associations exist with Mt. 6.19-21 (the treasure in man, understood as progressive growth) and similar texts. It is, of course, true that the original Christian awareness of the Churchs non-establishment did not simply disappear with Constantine and Theodosius. Instead, influential church leaders like Gregory Nazianzen (Or. 26, 33), Chrysostom (Hom. on Mt. 9.5; on Jn 15.3; on Heb. 24.2) and above all Augustine (e.g. City of God 5.17) urged their congregations not to attach too great a significance to their natural homeland.&dquo; Instead, Augustine interprets Pauls reference to heavenly citizenship as pertaining to those who seek the things above (Col. 3.12) : They reign with him who are so in his kingdom that they themselves are his kingdom.6 This Augustinian interpretation of Phil. 3.20 was immensely influential. Citing our passage in a sermon on the Lords Prayer, Ivo of Chartres (1040-1115) explains the phrase Our Father who art in heaven to imply that God is among those whose manner of life [cf. Vulgates conversatio] is in the heavens .107 We must probably include here the whole popular notion of the Christians true home being in heaven, which is widespread in medieval pietyl08 and later recurs, for example, in the work of John Bunyan.109 At least indirectly, much of the Zion hymnody of subsequent centuries also belongs in this category, although the specific influence of Phil. 3.19b-20 is not always
this
period, key
heaven), 1 Cor. 15.49 (the heavenly
0 precisely traceable.
Philonic (and later Gnostic) idea of the body as the land of exile (p. 45, with reference to Philo, Cher. 120; Conf. Ling. 78). 105. Roldanus, Références patristiques, pp. 46-47 and n. 99. 106. Augustine, Civ. Dei 20.9. 107. G.E. McCracken and A. Cabaniss (trans. and ed.), Early Medieval Theology (Library of Christian Classics, 9; London: SCM Press, 1957), p. 320. 108. See Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, 2.1; S. Wenzel (ed. and trans.), Fasciculus Morum: A Fourteenth-Century Preachers Handbook (University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1989), pp. 532-33. 109. For a clear allusion to Phil. 3.20, see, e.g., Bunyans reference to those whose trade and traffick was in Heaven (Wharey [ed.], Pilgrims Progress, p. 90). 110. See, however, P. Abelards O Quanta Qualia Sunt Illa Sabbata (= O What Their Joy and Their Glory Must Be [trans. J.M. Neale]), esp. v. 5 (Jerusalem, dear native land); Bernard of Clunys Urbs Syon Aurea (= Jerusalem the Golden [trans. J.M. Neale], A. & M., 228), esp. v. 4 (the home of Gods Elect); Jerusalem, My Happy Home (A. & M., 236, anon.); John Newtons Glorious
86
to a
important to note that the passage was never completely reduced spiritual meaning, but repeatedly re-assumed a certain political significance. This is perhaps particularly true in the sixteenth century,
It is
for both the Lutheran and the radical Reformation. Here we can find an interesting illustration of the politics of interpretation. Thus The Augsburg Confession 28.16 appealed inter alia to Phil. 3.20 to justify the Lutheran doctrine of the Two Kingdoms: Christians belong to the heavenly as well as to the earthly kingdom of Christ, and have loyalties to both. Thomas Mntzer, by contrast, delivered a famous sermon at Allstedt on 13 July 1524 before Duke John (brother of Frederick of Hesse, Luthers protector), his son and various officials. Using Daniel 2 as his text, Miintzer here quotes Phil. 3.20 to point out the error of the Lutherans whose Realpolitik effectively compromises the radical biblical view of the secular magistracy. The court astrologers who opposed the true prophet Daniel spoke what their masters gladly hear, just as the learned divines now do in our time, who very much like to eat the choice morsels at court. In this situation, therefore, the politics of interpretation are amply illustrated by the contrary uses to which our passage was put at the hands of right and left wing Reformers. In assessing the relative merits of these views from the perspective of Christian doctrine, the exegete will certainly refer back to the original text. That alone, however, would not be enough to adjudicate between Mntzer and the Lutherans, since both of them took their stance on sola Scriptura. Instead, this passages history of interpretation and of influence can give pointers towards a fuller understanding; indeed it may indicate that perhaps neither of the two contenders really came to grips with the primary
of Thee Are Spoken (A. & M., 545, v. 4; cf. also Ps. 87.4, 6): Saviour, since of Zions city I through grace a member am...). It is worth noting that the popular Christmas carol O Come, All Ye Faithful, despite its use of the line Sing, all ye citizens of Heaven above, should probably be excluded: the Latin original Adeste Fideles, attributed to John Francis Wade, makes it clear that only angels are in view (cantet nunc aula caelestium). 111. G.H. Williams and A.M. Mercal (eds.), Spiritual and Anabaptist Writers: Documents Illustrative of the Radical Reformation (Library of Christian Classics, 25; London: SCM Press, 1957), pp. 55-56. In another allusion to the same context in Philippians (v. 18), Müntzer goes on to refer to his opponents as enemies of the cross (ibid., p. 69). The vivid ethical radicalism of the Anabaptist interpretation of Matthew is noted by Luz, e.g., in Matthew in History, pp. 31-32.
Things
87 ways in which this passage has been understood and church. Conclusion Since this paper is only a preliminary study, it is appropriate to be brief. I expect to do further work in due course, but my hope is that others will refine and expand what has been proposed. My argument in effect has been in three parts: first, I have tried to provide an introduction to the important but neglected role of Wirkungsgeschichte for biblical interpretation. Secondly, I have offered some reflections on appropriate methods and approaches, in dialogue with the significant work done by Heikki Rdisdnen and especially Ulrich Luz. And finally, I have attempted to chart a course through the effective history of Pauls letter to the Philippians, taking into account both the influence of the letter as a whole and that of particular passages. It has been my suggestion that both aspects of Wirkungsgeschichte need attention, and that the genre of the exegetical commentary is particularly well suited to provide an illustrated running account of the place and presence of biblical books within the history of our civilization. In rendering this service, a commentator will assist his readers not only in engaging with the vital historical-critical work, but also in building the hermeneutical bridge from the world of the text to the world of the Christian reader and his or her community. And one more thing needs to be said. Where we pursue effective history in a spirit of humble and sympathetic criticism, we may well find ourselves enlisting the aid of our forebears in that other missing dimension of contemporary New Testament commentaries: the engaging and exposing of that which Karl Barth called the enigma of the matters the extrinsic reality to which the text points, the Word of God in the words of Scripture.
applied
in the
112. K. Barth, Romans (trans. E.C. Hoskyns; Oxford: Oxford University Press, most recently the suggestion of M. Hengel (Aufgaben der neutestamentlichen Wissenschaft, NTS 40 [1994], pp. 349-51) that the task of New Testament scholarship cannot be complete without an explicit engagement with the question of the underlying truth of the gospel.
1933), p. 8. Compare
88
ABSTRACT
study begins by offering an introduction to the neglected role of Wirkungsgeschichte in biblical interpretation, developing reflections on appropriate methods and approaches in dialogue with the work of Heikki Räisänen and especially Ulrich Luz. It is argued that the modern meaning of a biblical text cannot be fully elucidated without reference to the history of both its meaning and its effects in the period between the ancient author and the modern interpreter. Turning to the effective history of Pauls letter to the Philippians, the article then examines both the influence of the letter as a whole and that of three particular passages (1.21-23; 2.5-11; 3.20). It is suggested that the genre of the commentary is particularly well suited to a running account of the place and presence of biblical books within the history of our civilization, which could provide vital tools for the construction of a hermeneutical bridge from the world of the text to the world of the Christian reader and his or her community
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57-8

A COMMENTATORS APPROACH TO THE EFFECTIVE HISTORY

Forgotten Factor in New Testament Interpretation ?

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Dobsch&uuml;tz, The Bible in the Church, in J. Hastings (ed.),

Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics 2 (1909), pp. 579-615; idem,

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Lines In the interest of

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Effective History of Philippians

Luz, Matth&auml;us, p. 78.

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present whenever anyone reads

(N.B. 1totto~at). At the same time, however, it is important

Paulusinterpret (WUNT, 2.66; T&uuml;bingen: Mohr [Siebeck], 1994).

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circulation in the vernacular.

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We shall focus first

See also below,

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1984), pp. 13,

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history, sequentially pericope by pericope.

not know which I

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See C.E. Hill,

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good cause or person.

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preached on one day.

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Tertullian, Irenaeus and Clement of Alexandria.

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Christian.&dquo; Indeed in his

further, including in Christs humiliation

See Beer, Wechsel, pp. 85-86, 263, with

subjectively, as well pp. 189-90.

Luthers nach seinen

Asendorf, Theologie, p. 189, with reference

edn, XLII, pp. 210-

wie ein anderer Mensch, for

&sigma;&chi;&e acgr;&mu;&alpha;&tau;i &epsiv;&uacgr;&rho;&epsiv;&thetas;&epsiv;&iacgr;&sfgr;

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348-413 CE, trans.

2; Hark, the Herald Angels Sing,

2-3; May the Mind of Christ

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multiplied,9 but the case is clearly well established.

Macmillan, 1905), pp. 391-92 and

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Dobschütz, The Bible in the Church, in J. Hastings (ed.),

Luz, Matthäus, p. 78.

Paulusinterpret (WUNT, 2.66; Tübingen: Mohr [Siebeck], 1994).

σχ&e acgr;ματi ϵ&uacgr;ρϵ&thetas;ϵ&iacgr;&sfgr;