The interpretation of kenosis from Origen to Cyril of Alexandria : dimensions of self-emptying in the reception of Philippians 2:7 / by Michael C. Magree, SJ.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Magree, Michael C., author.

Series:

Oxford early Christian studies.

Oxford scholarship online.

Oxford early Christian studies

Oxford scholarship online

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Jesus Christ--Natures.

Jesus Christ.

Bible. Philippians, II--Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Bible.

Incarnation--Biblical teaching.

Incarnation.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (328 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, [2024]

Summary:

The self-emptying of Christ, proclaimed in the letter to the Philippians 2:7, remains a much-debated topic in modern theology and exegesis. This book brings the insights of Greek Christianity to the understanding of kenosis to illustrate that new dimensions of the topic open up when it is examined in the historical era of early Christianity.

Contents:

Cover

The Interpretation of Kenosis from Origen to Cyril of Alexandria: Dimensions of Self-Emptying in the Reception of Philippians 2:7

Copyright

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Contents

Abbreviations and Other Conventions

Introduction

1: Modern Exegesis of Philippians 2:6-7

1.1 Context and Method

1.2 Philippians 2:6-11: A "Hymn" or Not?

1.3 Pre-existence and Harpagmos

1.4 Kenosis in Modern Exegesis

1.4.1 Linguistic Analysis

1.4.2 Jeremias and Isaiah

1.4.3 The Religionsgeschichte School

1.4.4 Theophanic Interpretation: Wright, Bauckham, Gorman

1.5 Questions about Questions: Three Contrasts in Modern Exegesis

1.5.1 Literature versus Dogma

1.5.2 History versus Metaphysics

1.5.3 Whose Metaphysics?

1.6 Conclusion

2: Ancient Reading, and Kenotic Philanthropy in Origen

2.1 Introduction

2.2 Ancient Interpretation

2.2.1 Grammar, Rhetoric, and Interpretation

2.2.2 Philosophy and Literary Criticism

2.3 Early Christian Theologies and Philippians 2:7

2.3.1 Valentinians and Marcionites and Philippians 2:7

2.3.2 Clement of Alexandria and Philippians 2:7

2.4 Origen

2.4.1 Origen on Philippians 2:7 as Foundational for Exegesis

2.4.2 Philippians 2:7, Non-Thematized

2.4.3 Origen on Procession and the Revelatory Economy

2.4.4 Ensoulment of the Word

2.4.5 Kenosis and the Union of Natures

2.4.6 Origen's Contra Celsum and Immutability

2.4.7 Origen Proposing Christ's Self-Emptying as Object of Christian Imitation

2.4.8 Origen against Heraclides

2.5 Conclusion

3: Philippians 2:7 in Eusebius and Athanasius

3.1 Introduction

3.2 Conceptual Background: Agency in the Age of Nicaea

3.3 Eusebius of Caesarea: Philippians 2 in Anti-Marcellan Polemic

3.3.1 Eusebius on the Father and the Son.

3.3.2 Eusebius on Temporality and the Subject of the Incarnation

3.3.3 Eusebius on Mediation

3.4 Athanasius: Philippians 2 against the Arians

3.4.1 Time and Narrative in the Contra Arianos

3.4.2 Philippians 2 and the Turning Point of the Incarnation

3.4.3 Agency in Christ and the "Double Account"

3.5 Concluding Thoughts on Eusebius and Athanasius and Kenosis

4: Self-Emptying in Focus: Basil of Caesarea and Gregory of Nyssa Against Eunomius and Apollinarius

4.1 Introduction

4.2 Basil of Caesarea

4.2.1 Basil of Caesarea: Background and Terminology

4.2.2 Basil and the Use of Philippians 2

4.3 Eunomius of Cyzicus

4.4 Gregory of Nyssa: Kenosis in the Exchange of Properties

4.4.1 Ashamed of the Cross: Gregory's Response

4.4.2 Emptied into Whom

4.4.3 Text Criticism, the "Experience of Death," and Saving Suffering

4.4.4 Temporality and Kenosis

4.5 Anti-Apollinarianism in the Cappadocians

4.5.1 Apollinarianism

4.5.2 Gregories versus Apollinarius on Philippians 2

4.5.3 Transformation, Ownership, and Kenosis

4.5.4 Conclusion

4.6 Concluding Thoughts: Basil, Eunomius, Gregory of Nyssa, Apollinarius

5: Self-Emptying in the Theology of Cyril of Alexandria

5.1 Introduction

5.2 Theodore on Philippians

5.2.1 Theodore of Mopsuestia on the Incarnation

5.2.2 Theodore on the Argumentum of the Letter

5.2.3 Theodore on Kenosis

5.3 Nature, Subject: Cyril on Kenosis

5.4 Cyril on Kenosis Pre-428

5.4.1 Cyril on Willing Self-Emptying

5.4.2 Cyril on the Two Times

5.4.3 Cyril on Mediation

5.4.4 Conclusion

5.5 To Ephesus and Beyond: Nestorius, Cyril, and Philippians 2

5.5.1 Nestorius

5.5.2 Cyril versus Nestorius

5.5.3 Cyril, Theodoret, and the Twelve Chapters

5.5.4 Conclusions from Debates about Kenosis, 428-31

5.6 Cyril on the Unity of Christ.

5.6.1 Cyril and Revelation's Authority

5.6.2 Cyril's Doctrine in On the Unity of Christ

5.6.3 Conclusion

5.7 Cyrillian Kenosis, in Comparison

6: Conclusion

6.1 Common Theological Topics in Accounts of Kenosis in Early Greek Christianity

6.2 Modern Exegesis and Ancient Understanding of Kenosis

6.3 Bauckham and Cyril

6.4 Feminist Kenotic Theology and Cyril

Bibliography

I. Primary Texts

II. Secondary Texts

Index of Ancient Texts

General Index.

Notes:

Also issued in print: 2024.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource and publisher information; title from PDF title page (viewed on February 9, 2024).

ISBN:

0-19-889668-9

0-19-199832-X

0-19-889667-0

OCLC:

1420472113