Did Paul think Christ was a pre-existent being?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21814/diacritica.6012Keywords:
Apostle Paul, Jesus Christ, Ancient Christianity, Adoptionist Christology, Incarnation ChristologyAbstract
Despite the scholarly consensus according to which, to the apostle Paul, Christ was a pre-existent being, that can hardly be considered the only possible interpretation of his thought. In this article, I propose a reading of six passages from his authentic letters in light of the hypothesis of adoptionist Christology. This work puts forward two considerations: on the one hand, arguing for an incarnation Christology imposes on the text a theology that was only later developed; on the other hand, whereas the perspective of incarnation raises contradictions with the overall Pauline thought, adoptionism provides a more consistent understanding of the same. Should this hypothesis be correct, it also presents a more plausible framework for the origin and evolution of the early Christian movement.
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