Christ the Ideal King
Cultural Context, Rhetorical Strategy, and the Power of Divine Monarchy in Ephesians
Christ the Ideal King
Cultural Context, Rhetorical Strategy, and the Power of Divine Monarchy in Ephesians
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Publisher: JCB Mohr (Paul Siebeck)
ISBN: 9783161509742
Number of Pages: 326
Published: 07/11/2011
Width: 23.2 cm
Height: 15.5 cm
A central rhetorical strategy of Ephesians involves the portrayal of Christ as an ideal king who reunites a fractured cosmos and humanity through his reign. In this comprehensive study, Julien Smith shows how this literary characterization unifies the letter's major themes: reconciling humanity with God, uniting Jew and gentile, establishing ecclesiastical harmony, and defeating hostile powers arrayed against the church. The author grounds his analysis in a thorough account of the kingly ideal's powerful contemporary cultural resonance, which was rooted in the widespread yearning within both Greco-Roman and Jewish thought for a golden age inaugurated by a divinely ordained monarch. For Ephesians' author and audience, only Christ the ideal king has power to form identity and transform behavior.