New Book on Early Christian Worship

I am pleased to announce that my third book, New Testament Christological Hymns: Exploring Texts, Contexts, and Significance, is being released this summer on Aug 7 by IVP Academic. Click here for the link to the publisher’s page. Focusing on the passages in the New Testament that describe Jesus in a hymnic style, this book touches on early Christian worship, the Greco-Roman and Jewish cultural contexts of the New Testament, and the development of early Christian belief. Comparing these early Christian compositions to other first century expressions of hymnic praise helps provide new perspective on the significance of these fascinating and rich passages. It also gives us a lot to think about for contemporary worshipers of Jesus. Please check out the web site and see what you think.

If you were to ask me for a little more detail about what the book is about, here is what I would say:

This is a book about worship in the New Testament in which I show that praise of Jesus uses some of the same language that was used in praise of the Roman emperor, in part, to emphasize that Jesus was greater than the emperor. This language, which just sounds religious to us (savior, Lord, son of God), actually had very significant political implications. To worship Jesus in this way was to affirm a view of reality that was counter-cultural and anti-imperial. But this worship of Jesus did not arise from nowhere; it draws on a long tradition of Jewish resistance poetry that can be traced back through to some of the oldest poetry of the Hebrew Bible. It also draws on prophetic promises of divine renewal that were still alive in first century Judaism. So in the book I argue that we should seek to understand worship passages in the New Testament in light of their interaction with these larger cultural factors. When we do so we gain new insight into some of the richest passages in the New Testament and also into what the earliest worship of Jesus was about. And, if we take them seriously, there is a challenge for modern Christians in terms of how we engage with our culture and with the prevailing political powers today.

The book is currently available for pre-order at a discount on the IVP Academic site as well as on Amazon, and will ship on Aug 7, 2018.

The Cross in the Earliest Christian Hymns (part 2)

Note: This is a follow-up to last week's entry on the cross in the hymn in Philippians 2.

As we progress in this Holy Week to remember the crucifixion of Jesus on Good Friday, another early Christian hymn tells us a little more about what the cross meant to the early Christian worshipers. One of the earliest hymns preserved in the New Testament is found in Colossians 1:15-20. It is probably not quite as early as the Philippian hymn and has a very different feel and style than that hymn. The Colossian hymn was written in a Greek rhetorical style while the Philippian hymn reflects more of a Jewish psalm style. And rather than a chronological narrative with a reversal at the focal point of the cross, the Colossian hymn describes Christ over two stanzas using honorific titles and descriptors:

Stanza 1

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation;

16 for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible,

whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—

all things have been created through him and for him.

17 He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

18 He is the head of the body, the church.

Stanza 2

He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,

so that he might come to have first place in everything.

19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,

20 and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things,

whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace

through the blood of his cross.

As is fairly clear, the first stanza describes the supremacy of Christ in the realm of creation, while the second describes the supremacy of Christ in redemption. And it is in the work of redemption that the cross is mentioned, at the end of the second stanza. It is “through the blood of his cross” the following two things came about:

• The reconciling of all things to God, and,
• The making of peace.

There is a lot that could be said about those two accomplishments. One thing that is often overlooked is that these two accomplishments—reconciliation and peace making—were two primary claims made about the Roman emperor in the first century. If you recall your world history course, the Pax Romana (the Roman peace) was the term given to the peace that Rome brought about in the Mediterranean world. This was after an extended period of war and strife. Caesar Augustus claimed to have brought peace to the empire and reconciliation between warring factions. Of course, this was a peace brought about through military might and enforced through the subjugation of peoples and the execution of enemies. But it was “peace” nonetheless and something that the emperor claimed as his special accomplishment as a divinely appointed ruler of the world.

And here in this early Christian hymn, these same accomplishments of reconciliation and peace-making are attributed to Jesus. But for him it is not through military might but, as in Philippians, by means of the cross, the brutal symbol of Roman power.

The hymn does not explain how the blood of his cross makes peace. But the basic idea is that because of the cross, the parties that were at odds can be reconciled.

Stepping back to compare Philippians 2 and Colossians 1, it is clear that both hymns mention the cross. And in both cases a fuller appreciation of the Roman historical and cultural context enables us to grasp the significance of the cross a little more fully.

The Philippian hymn mentioned the cross as the turning point- the low point of Christ’s humiliation and the reason for the exaltation. But in the Philippian hymn there is a surprising absence: there is no mention of benefits accruing to humanity from the cross; no mention of salvation, forgiveness of sins, or redemption.

The Colossian hymn is different in this way. The cross is explicitly identified as the means through which God brings about peace and the reconciliation of all things. Paul applies this to the Colossians in vv. 21-22 and tells them “And you who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his fleshly body through death.”  Somehow, the cross is the means of reconciliation with God. And it is also another way that the supremacy of Christ is demonstrated. Because he was crucified and put to death, he can now be called not only the “firstborn over all creation” (stanza 1) but also the “firstborn from among the dead” (stanza 2). As the hymn says “so that in all things he might have the supremacy.”

If the Philippian hymn reminds us of the humility of Christ and of divine reversal, the Colossian hymn reminds us of the supremacy of Christ in creation and redemption. The cross is thus, again, not a triumph for the Romans but another indicator of the superiority of Jesus, the means by which he turns his enemies into his friends.

Given the importance of the cross in these two early Christian hymns, one might ask what role the cross plays in the other great early Christian hymn found in the New Testament: the hymnic prologue which opens up John’s Gospel. The answer is surprising.

A Prayer of St. Patrick

Source: FaithND.edu

On St. Patrick’s Day I wanted to share an ancient Celtic prayer that is attributed to St. Patrick by tradition. Its author is unknown, but it is thought to originate from around the time of St. Patrick. The whole text of the prayer can be found here.

Sometimes called the "breastplate" of St. Patrick, this is a really fascinating prayer, focusing as it does on the power of God for the protection of the one praying. One excerpt that struck me in particular is this section that I had heard elsewhere about the presence of Christ with the one praying:

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left
Christ where I lie, Christ where I sit, Christ where I arise
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

The rhetorical force of this kind of language is very impressive. The series of prepositions “with,” “before,” “behind,” “in,” “beneath,” “above,” and “on” creates an impression of the all-encompassing presence of Christ. In this regard it echoes one of the early christological hymns found in the New Testament in Colossians 1:15-20. Verses 16-17 of that passage read:

For in him all things in heaven and on earth were created…
all things have been created through him and for him.
He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. (NRSV)

There we see the focus on “all things” which created “in him,” “through him,” and “for him.” Verses 19-20a read:

For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,
and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things. (NRSV)

This emphasis on totality is continued in these verses with “all the fullness” dwelling “in him” and “all things” being reconciled “through him.” The rhetorical force of a series of prepositions, taken as a whole, communicate something in addition to what each individual phrase suggests. It creates an impression of the all-encompassing presence of God through Christ both in God's work of creation and in God's work of redemption.

Interestingly, just as the prayer of St. Patrick shows the influence of the Colossian hymn, in a similar way the Colossian hymn shows the influence of the Greco-Roman age in which it was composed. Popular Greek philosophers around the first century known as Middle Platonists made much of the significance of prepositions. Prepositions like those used in the Colossian hymn were central to their philosophical debates about divine agency in the creating and sustaining of the world, and they debated the significance of actions done “by” someone as opposed to “through” someone or “in” someone. The Jewish writer Philo of Alexandria used these prepositions to discuss the work of the Logos (divine reason) as an agent of God in ways that echoed the Greek philosophical debates.These observations do not mean to suggest that the writer of the Colossian hymn was a Middle Platonic philosopher or that the hymnist simply copied Greek ideas. However, it does seem clear that the prepositions used about Christ in that hymn had cultural currency, and the author used them to invoke a quasi-philosophical feel in the hymn. Christ is clearly portrayed as the unique and supreme agent of God in both the creation of all things and the redemption of all things. Interestingly, this same idea is picked up in the hymn that opens John's Gospel where Jesus is explicitly identified as the Logos through whom God created the world.

The prayer of St. Patrick and the Colossian hymn both demonstrate the fascinating ways in which the language of prayer and praise draws on earlier tradition to meet the need of the present day. May it be that our own prayer and praise draws on these rich traditions, connecting them deeply and meaningfully with the needs of our own time. 

At the present moment in our culture, the excerpt above from the prayer of St. Patrick feels very timely. Certainly the recognition of the presence of Christ in all whom we encounter is a reminder to me to strive to honor the dignity of each person created in the image of God, regardless of what differences may otherwise separate us. May we all see Christ in every eye that sees us.