A study of the hymnic and liturgical material in the New Testament which describes Christ’s nature and person. Professor Sanders analyzes the hymns in detail and finds in them a common mythological pattern. He traces its origin to a particular and unorthodox branch of Judaism which is itself a branch of the ‘wisdom’ tradition where the thanksgiving hymn had its home. His conclusions therefore have considerable importance and implications for questions about the origins of Gnosticism and its influence on Christianity. This is the full-scale historical religious study of the New Testament Christological hymns, and English readers will find particularly useful Professor Sanders’ critical survey of recent continental scholarship on this and related subjects.
Jack T. Sanders was born in Grand Prairie, Texas, 28 February 1935. He earned his B.A. degree from Texas Wesleyan College, a master's degree from Emory University, and his Ph.D. degree from the Claremont Graduate University in Southern California in 1963. After spending a post-doc year at the University of Tübingen, Germany, he shuffled through three teaching positions before landing at the University of Oregon in 1969. There he stayed, retiring in 2002. He now lives in Pendleton, a small town in eastern Oregon, where he is active in the Umatilla County Historical Society and enjoys watching his wife ride in horse shows.
Most of Sanders's published work deals with one of two subjects: the way in which religious ideas flowed from one culture to another and were adapted into new contexts (NEW TESTAMENT CHRISTOLOGICAL HYMNS, BEN SIRA AND DEMOTIC WISDOM, and CHARISMA, CONVERTS, COMPETITORS); and the origins of Jewish-Christian conflict (JEWS IN LUKE-ACTS and SCHISMATICS, SECTARIANS, DISSIDENTS, DEVIANTS).
His most recent book, SAMUEL ROTHCHILD, departs from that pattern, bringing back to attention an important but forgotten pioneer businessman and civic leader in eastern Oregon and central Washington, and also emphasizing the role that Jews played in the development of the West--along with all the other ethnic groups whose contributions made the American West what it is today.
