Arnold, Clinton E.
The Colossian Syncretism

The Interface Between Christianity and Folk Belief at Colossae.

What was the nature of the teaching of the opponents within the church at Colossae? On the basis of careful historical investigation, this study describes the teaching as deeply rooted in the local Phrygian-Lydian folk belief. - From the introduction: »The problem of identifying the precise nature of the teaching and practices of the opponents reflected in Colossians is notorious. [...] Syncretism is a word that has long been used to characterize the beliefs and practices of the opponents in Colossians. There is clearly some mixture of religious ideas behind this self-styled "philosophy". The difficulty has been in discerning the nature and extent of the syncretism. [...] The thesis of this monograph is that the beliefs and practices of the opponents at Colossae best cohere around the category of what might loosely be called folk religion. In affirming this, I am not intending to establish a commitment to one particular anthropological model of folk belief. Rather, I am suggesting that the best explanation for the Colossian "philosophy" lies in the quite general classification of folk religion. This forces us to think more deeply about what is most likely from the standpoint of the belief structures of common people in Phrygia. As one of the best windows into folk belief, current scholarship has been pointing us in the direction of the so-called magical texts. These clearly represent a dimension of belief held by common people, but reflecting a mixture of religious ideas«. XII,378 Seiten, broschiert (Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament. 2. Reihe; Vol. 77/Mohr Siebeck 1995) leichte Lagerspuren/minor shelfwear