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Poetry and Theology in Colossians 1. 15–20

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2009

N. T. Wright
N. T. Wright
Affiliation:
Oxford, England
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Extract

In this article I shall argue for two points: first, that Col 1. 15–20 exhibits, without the deletion of any of its parts, a clear structure which can, in some meaningful senses, be called ‘poetic’; second, that the passage, read as a poem in the way I shall suggest, exhibits a characteristically Pauline form of what we may call Christological monotheism. This will point on to some further suggestions regarding the place of the passage within Colossians as a whole.

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New Testament Studies , Volume 36 , Issue 3 , July 1990 , pp. 444 - 468
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Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1990

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