How High was Paul’s Angel? The Origins of Low Christology and Implications for Contemporary Debates

The discussion in New Testament scholarship regarding early low or early high Christology has a long history, but recent studies have traced developments only for the latter. This can be seen in a specific debate over how best to interpret Paul’s Christ Hymn: is Jesus therein described as divine or an angel? After reviewing the rise of objective approaches to history, and tracing the construction of two competing paradigms, one can better assess the arguments, along with the often unstated prior commitments that lead to either conclusion. The aim of this article is not to side with either view, but to demonstrate how each paradigm was constructed under the demands of certain theological commitments. In this light, the case of the Christ Hymn in Philippians looks very different, since the differences between the two sides is much less than either acknowledges.