Abstract
I Was Surprised And Intrigued To learn that Anderson had applied her expertise in narrative criticism and feminist interpretation to the letter to the Colossians. I am not surprised that she has produced a little gem. The book is at once a serious interaction with scholarship on Colossians, an engaging pedagogy, and informed reflections on the role of readers in constructing a text and its meanings.
The structure of the work is shown in the title: chapter 1 discusses the authorship of the letter; chapter 2 examines its rhetoric; and chapter 3 explores the household code in Colossians 3. While that may sound pedestrian, even boring, it is far from it. Two strategies give life to the work. First, undergirding each of these chapters and running throughout the book is a strong concern for hermeneutics—how we make sense of writings. Second, each of these topics is treated as a quest, a joint quest of the author and the reader, to understand the stories that lie often unnoticed in this letter.
Each chapter follows a similar structure: a “thought experiment” leads to an overview of scholarship, culminating in a discussion of how and why the issue is important for those who wish to understand Paul and early Christianity. For example, chapter 1, on authorship, proposes two thought experiments: How might one deal with stories about Harry Potter that were not written by J. K. Rowling? What difference does it make that the stories in the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew series were written by several ghostwriters—not by the named authors? She then describes how Colossians can be read as a story of Paul or as a story of Paul's followers, depending on our answers to the question of authorship.
The careful discussion of the scholarly debate over the authorship of Colossians is one of the finest I have seen. The author explains how the issue arose, the different conclusions different scholars come to, the nature of authorship, and the specific arguments for and against Pauline authorship of Colossians—all well documented. Rather than resolve the issue, the discussion leads to a consideration of the difference it makes: perhaps a great deal if we are trying to understand the singular mind of Paul; perhaps less if we are trying to understand the development of early Christian thought (pp. 30–31).
It is both the strength and the weakness of this book that it is a thoroughgoing literary analysis of the letter to the Colossians. All literary works may be said to have an actual author and an implied author, but one rarely sees this distinction applied to the study of Paul's letters. On the other hand, readers of this journal will miss any sustained engagement with the social world of early Christian texts. There is little discussion of important topics such as syncretism, mystical philosophy, varieties of Judaism in the Diaspora, the social function of letters, or the nature of households in Christian assemblies (but see pp. 60–68).
This is not a weakness of the book, for the book did not set out to do such things. But one using this book in a class, for example, will need to supplement it with works that focus on the social world. Anderson provides a starting point for such analysis, especially in her literary discussion of the political significance of the household order (pp. 72–86).
Another strength of the work is its clear summary and demonstration of feminist interpretation. This approach runs throughout the work, but comes into sharpest focus in the discussion of the household code, wherein women are subordinated to men (pp. 86–92).
It is probably good to introduce readers to the technical vocabulary of early Christian studies, but sometimes the terms are used without adequate definition–which may prove problematic for undergraduates. In general, however, the book is gracefully written and clearly argued. Anyone wishing to discover how the interpretation of Colossians has evolved over the last few decades will profit from this work. Those wishing to do more research and understand the details will be grateful for the extensive notes and comprehensive bibliography. The book also includes three indexes: works cited, scriptural citations, and a rather brief subject index.