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Document Details :

Title: Dwelling on Visions
Subtitle: On the Nature of the so-called ‘Colossians Heresy’
Author(s): ROYALTY, Robert M.
Journal: Biblica
Volume: 83    Issue: 3   Date: 2002   
Pages: 329-357
DOI: 10.2143/BIB.83.3.3200312

Abstract :
This paper argues that Revelation provides a social-historical, theological, and ideological context for the reconstruction of the Colossian opposition. The proposal is that the author of the Apocalypse arrived in Asia after the Jewish-Roman war; his 'dwelling on visions' and prophetic activity challenged the emerging hierarchy within the churches, provoking a response in Paul’s name from the church leadership. Correspondences and parallels between the description of the opposition in Colossians and Revelation are developed exegetically, showing that eschatology and Christology were key issues in the dispute. This paper reexamines the heresiological rhetoric of Colossians, raising methodological questions about other scholarly reconstructions of the opposition as non-Christian.

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