Can the Messiahship of Jesus Be Read off Paul's Grammar? Nils Dahl's Criteria 50 Years Later

It is half a century since Nils A. Dahl wrote his important essay ‘Die Messianität Jesu bei Paulus’, in which he determines that χριστός in Paul is effectively a proper name, not a title, on the basis of four negative philological observations: it is never a general term; it is never a predicate of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:New Testament studies
Main Author: Novenson, Matthew V. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Cambridge Univ. Press 2010
In: New Testament studies
Further subjects:B Nils A. Dahl
B Jesus
B messiahship
B Grammar
B Criteria
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Summary:It is half a century since Nils A. Dahl wrote his important essay ‘Die Messianität Jesu bei Paulus’, in which he determines that χριστός in Paul is effectively a proper name, not a title, on the basis of four negative philological observations: it is never a general term; it is never a predicate of the verb ‘to be’; it never takes a genitive modifier; and it characteristically lacks the definite article. The purpose of this article is to reconsider what each of these observations entails about the messiahship of Jesus. My thesis is that, while all four observations are significant for understanding Paul's thought, they do not constitute proper criteria for assessing the role of the messiahship of Jesus therein.
ISSN:1469-8145
Contains:Enthalten in: New Testament studies
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1017/S0028688510000020