Role of Emotion in Philippians, The: Discerning Affections (The Library of New Testament Studies)

Blois, Isaac D.

ISBN 10: 0567710963 / ISBN 13: 9780567710963

Published by T&T Clark, 2026

About this Item

Seller Inventory # mon0004194121

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Role of Emotion in Philippians, The: Discerning Affections (The Library of New Testament Studies)
• Publisher: T&T Clark
• Publication Date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0567710963
• ISBN 13: 9780567710963
• Binding: hardcover
• Condition: Fine

About this title

Synopsis

Isaac D. Blois demonstrates the many ways that Paul attempted to shape the emotional orientation of his friends at Philippi, thereby constructing a multifaceted Christian identity that went beyond mere doctrinal content. While Paul famously instructs the Philippian believers to “think” among themselves the same thing that is also “in Christ”, Blois suggests that English translations have missed crucial aspects by focusing too much on the logo-centric, intellectual elements of the key term phroneo, while missing the emotional resonance behind this concept. Rather, in order to guide their behaviour, Paul first had to form their affections, training them to feel appropriately toward Christ and his world, so that then they might be able to believe rightly and act correctly within it. Blois analyses six key emotions arising within the discourse: three positive emotions (joy, pride, and hope), and then three negative emotions (grief, shame, and fear). By situating each emotion within its Greco-Roman cultural context, along with highlighting its Scriptural resonances, the versatility of the apostle emerges, in that Paul could both draw on common cultural scripts while simultaneously changing them so as to morph them around the new and radical Christ paradigm. Ultimately, Blois stresses that Paul deftly weaves together a tapestry of emotions that unifies the Philippian believers around a shared way of feeling, enabling them to first experience Christ communally and then present him powerfully and winsomely to the pagan world around them.

About the Authors

Isaac D. Blois is Assistant Professor of New Testament at the Torrey Honors Institute, Biola University, USA.

Chris Keith is Research Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society, Norway. He is the author of The Pericope Adulterae, the Gospel of John and the Literacy of Jesus, a winner of the 2010 John Templeton Award for Theological Promise, and Jesus' Literacy: Scribal Culture and the Teacher from Galilee. He is also the co-editor of Jesus among Friends and Enemies: A Historical and Literary Introduction to Jesus in the Gospels, and was recently named a 2012 Society of Biblical Literature Regional Scholar.