Preface

Summary

There are certain passages of scripture which both provoke and baffle study. Philippians ii. 5–11 is one such section, as all who have tried their hand at its interpretation know full well.

During the past half-century, this Pauline passage has been exposed to a searching scrutiny by a number of interpreters. Its apparent endorsement of the so-called Kenotic theory of the Incarnation has given it a special place in the field of systematic theology; its literary structure and style have made it suitable as a test-case for the tracing of early Christian liturgical fragments in the New Testament documents; and, more recently, it has taken on particular significance as a species of pre-Pauline confessional material, thus opening a window on what was believed and taught about the person and place of Jesus Christ in the Jewish-Christian and Gentile churches prior to the formative influence which Paul exerted on early Christian thought.

The tap-root of the present study, which seeks to investigate critically the form, setting and content of Philippians ii. 5–11 as these features are understood by recent scholarship, was put down by the author a decade ago.