Christ song

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Christ song or hymn to Christ are called to a text in the New Testament (NT), which in poetic song-like manner a Christian creed included, on the other hand generally religious poems, chants or hymns , particularly the figure of Jesus Christ have to content. In a broader sense, some texts of the Old Testament or the Hebrew Bible ( Tanakh ) related to the Messiah are sometimes called "Christ's Song" in Christianity .

Songs of Christ in the Tanach or Old Testament

Messianic texts can be found above all in the prophecy of the exilic-post-exilic period from around the 6th century BC. Even in Judaism , some of the psalms have since been interpreted in terms of the Messiah. These texts were already referred to Jesus Christ by Christians in the New Testament and to that extent also passed on as "Christ songs". This includes:

Hymns of Christ in the New Testament

In the NT, some songs or hymns of Christ can be peeled out as quotations using linguistic features from the respective context. The literary criticism observed to appropriate introductions, change of subject, meter, poem style and function as evidence or justification for other statements. Such hymn-like quotations were known to the addressees of an early Christian community or to individual recipients of a NT letter or were at least assumed to be known by the author.

Well-known hymns of Christ in the NT are:

In addition, there are songs or hymns in the NT that are sung directly to Jesus by people or angels. This includes:

Songs of Christ in Church History

The tradition of the New Testament hymns of Christ continued in the early Church. The so-called Phos hilaron deserves a special mention here. In the further development of the early Christian hymns of Christ, it is noticeable that the image of Christ is clearly changing from the good shepherd to the world ruler (Pantocrator).

In the 19th and 20th centuries, a number of more recent "Christ songs" emerged from the German Romantic era , including:

literature

  • Friedrich Nippold : The German Christ song of the nineteenth century. Wunderlich, Leipzig 1903.
  • Eduard Lachmann: Hölderlin's hymns of Christ. Text and interpretation. Herold, Vienna 1951.
  • Robert Thomas Stoll: Hölderlin's hymns of Christ. Basics and interpretation (= Basel studies on German language and literature. Vol. 12, ISSN  0067-4508 ). Schwabe, Basel 1952.
  • Ulrich Häußermann: Peace celebration. An introduction to Hölderlin's hymns of Christ. Beck, Munich 1959 (also: Munich, University, phil. Dissertation of July 9, 1958).
  • Hans Jakob Gabathuler: Jesus Christ. Head of the Church, head of the world. The hymn of Christ Colosser 1.15–20 in theological research of the last 130 years (= treatises on theology of the Old and New Testaments. Vol. 45, ZDB -ID 502120-0 ). Zwingli-Verlag, Zurich a. a. 1965 (At the same time: Zurich, University, dissertation, 1964: The hymn of Christ Colosser 1.15–20 in theological research of the last 130 years. ).
  • Eduard Lachmann: The Reconciler. Holderlin's hymns of Christ. Müller, Salzburg 1966.
  • Nikolaus Kehl : The hymn of Christ in Colossians. An investigation into the history of the subject of Col 1.12–20 (= Stuttgart Biblical Monographs. Vol. 1, ZDB -ID 500759-8 ). Catholic Biblical Works, Stuttgart 1967.
  • Reinhard Deichgräber : Divine Hymn and Christ Hymn in early Christianity. Studies on the form, language and style of the early Christian hymns (= studies on the environment of the New Testament. Vol. 5, ZDB -ID 530909-8 ). Vandenhoeck Ruprecht, Göttingen 1967 (At the same time: Heidelberg, University, dissertation, 1965: Praise in early Christianity. ).
  • Hans-Werner Bartsch : The concrete truth and the lie of speculation. Investigation of the pre-Pauline hymn of Christ and its Gnostic mythization (= theology and reality. No. 1). Lang, Frankfurt am Main 1974, ISBN 3-261-01050-9 .
  • Otfried Hofius : The Christ hymn Philippians 2.6-11. Investigations into the form and statement of an early Christian psalm (= Scientific investigations into the New Testament. Vol. 17). Mohr, Tübingen 1976, ISBN 3-16-138111-4 (2nd, expanded edition, ibid 1991, ISBN 3-16-145672-6 ).
  • Werner Stenger: The hymn of Christ 1 Tim 3:16. A structural analysis study (= Regensburg Studies on Theology. Vol. 6). Lang, Frankfurt am Main a. a. 1977, ISBN 3-261-02282-5 .
  • Wolfgang Metzger: The hymn of Christ l. Timothy 3:16. Fragment of a homology of the Pauline communities (= work on theology. H. 62). Calwer Verlag, Stuttgart 1979, ISBN 3-7668-0617-3 .
  • Herbert Alexander Stützer, Günter Friedrich: From the good shepherd to the world ruler. The Song of Christ in the Change of the Early Church. Calwer Verlag, Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-7668-3232-8 .
  • Ralph Brucker: “Hymns of Christ” or “epideictic passages”? Studies on the change of style in the New Testament and its environment (= research on the religion and literature of the Old and New Testament. Vol. 176). Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, Göttingen 1997, ISBN 3-525-53859-6 (also: Hamburg, University, dissertation, 1996).
  • Peter Plank: Phos Ilaron. Hymn of Christ and light thanksgiving in early Christianity (= Hereditas. Studies on ancient church history. Vol. 20). Borengässer, Bonn 2001, ISBN 3-923946-54-6 (also: Würzburg, University, habilitation paper, 1986).