Title

Vindicating God's servants in Philippi and in Philippians: the influence of Paul's ministry in Philippi upon the composition of Philippians 2:6-11.

School/Department

Talbot School of Theology

Publication Date

1-2010

Abstract

This article examines the thematic parallels between (a) Paul's portrayal of the humiliation and exaltation of Christ in Phil 2 6-11 and (b) Luke's story of the public shaming and vindication of Paul and Silas, while they were in Philippi during the second missionary journey I draw on socioanthropological findings related to collective memory and social identity formation to suggest that the sequence of events surrounding the founding of the Philippian church (later related by Luke in Acts 16 11-40) functioned in an ongoing way as the community's narrative of origins The story thus served to legitimate the Philippian Christians' social identity as a threatened minority group in the colony Paul, now imprisoned in Rome (ca A D 62), and quite aware of the enduring impact on the Phihppians of events surrounding the founding of the church, frames his picture of Christ in Phil 2 in a way that resonates with this still-familiar story of the humiliation and vindication of the missionaries during their visit to the colony more than a decade earlier

Keywords

Philippi (Extinct city); Paul, the Apostle, Saint

Publication Title

Bulletin for Biblical Research

Volume

21

Issue

1

First Page

85

Last Page

102

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