Singing Subversively
Photo by Trevin Rudy on Unsplash An (appreciative) Response to Michael W Martin and Bryan A Nash Introduction In their paper, “Philippians 2:6-11 as Subversive Hymnos” , Michael W. Martin and Bryan A. Nash argue that, though contested of late, the categorization of Philippians 2:6-11 as a hymn is correct. They do this by comparing the ancient rhetorical theory of hymnos with the text in question, and then looking at the key difference: Christ is praised for some most unusual reasons. The Marks of a Hymn Examining ancient textbooks which address the genre of hymnos, Martin and Nash first point to four markers which allow the identification of the hymnos genre (95-109). Species of rhetoric. There is a close relation between genres of hymnos and encomion , thus hymnos is set apart by the next three markers. Subject. Whereas encomion takes as its subject man, hymnos is dedicated to a god. Length. Here both hymnos and encomion share length, as opposed to epainos , which are b...