Overview

The central question addressed in this book is whether Paul thought that Christ Jesus pre-existed in heaven, ""in the form of God,"" through whom all things were made, before being sent into the world to be born of a woman, in the likeness of sinful flesh. A significant body of scholarship these days, both conservative and critical, supports the view that he did. Andrew Perriman examines the assumptions and reasoning that underlie this consensus, and makes a thorough and innovative case for reading the relevant texts from the narrow and distinctive perspective of the gentile mission. How would pagans and post-pagan believers have heard and retold the back-story of the one whom they knew only as the exalted Lord who would one day rule the nations? Such an angle of enquiry sheds fascinating, and sometimes quite startling, new light on the many exegetical difficulties that attend this aspect of Paul's Christology--not least in respect of the opening lines of the extraordinary Christ encomium in his letter to the Philippians. But it also yields compelling insight into the significance of Jesus for the Pauline mission and, indeed, for the ancient pagan world.

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Reviews

When reading Paul's letters, to what degree does context determine content? For Andrew Perriman, the answer is 'quite a lot'--and that context is first-century Mediterranean paganism, the matrix of Paul's gentile mission. How would his pagan audience have heard Paul's claims about Christ? In the Form of a God answers this question through recreating, with sympathetic imagination, Paul's reception within his gentile assemblies. Perriman's fresh reading offers a refreshed Christology. --Paula Fredriksen, author of Paul: The Pagans' Apostle In his latest book In the Form of a God, Andrew Perriman has shown himself once again to be an incredibly creative and insightful thinker. If you are at all interested in New Testament Christology, you simply cannot afford to skip reading this book. It will lead you to ask new questions and make you think even if you have given sustained attention to the key christological passages in the New Testament. --James F. McGrath, Butler University When reading Paul's letters, to what degree does context determine content? For Andrew Perriman, the answer is 'quite a lot'--and that context is first-century Mediterranean paganism, the matrix of Paul's gentile mission. How would his pagan audience have heard Paul's claims about Christ? In the Form of a God answers this question through recreating, with sympathetic imagination, Paul's reception within his gentile assemblies. Perriman's fresh reading offers a refreshed Christology. --Paula Fredriksen, author of Paul: The Pagans' Apostle In his latest book In the Form of a God, Andrew Perriman has shown himself once again to be an incredibly creative and insightful thinker. If you are at all interested in New Testament Christology, you simply cannot afford to skip reading this book. It will lead you to ask new questions and make you think even if you have given sustained attention to the key christological passages in the New Testament. --James F. McGrath, Butler University

When reading Paul's letters, to what degree does context determine content? For Andrew Perriman, the answer is 'quite a lot'--and that context is first-century Mediterranean paganism, the matrix of Paul's gentile mission. How would his pagan audience have heard Paul's claims about Christ? In the Form of a God answers this question through recreating, with sympathetic imagination, Paul's reception within his gentile assemblies. Perriman's fresh reading offers a refreshed Christology. --Paula Fredriksen, author of Paul: The Pagans' Apostle In his latest book In the Form of a God, Andrew Perriman has shown himself once again to be an incredibly creative and insightful thinker. If you are at all interested in New Testament Christology, you simply cannot afford to skip reading this book. It will lead you to ask new questions and make you think even if you have given sustained attention to the key christological passages in the New Testament. --James F. McGrath, Butler University

Author Information

Andrew Perriman lives in London, UK. He is the author of several books, including The Future of the People of God: Reading Romans Before and After Western Christendom and End of Story: Same-Sex Relationships and the Narratives of Evangelical Mission. He blogs on the many benefits of a narrative-historical reading of Scripture for both interpretation and mission at www.postost.net. He is an Associate Research Fellow of the London School of Theology.

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