Carmen Christi. Philippians ii.

5-11 in Recent Interpretation and in the Setting of Early

Christian Worship by R. P. Martin
Review by: Robert Jewett
The Journal of Religion, Vol. 49, No. 3 (Jul., 1969), pp. 306-307
Published by: The University of Chicago Press
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The Journal of Religion
nor can the existence of evil disprove it, though both may well be relevant to the
character of God. The traditional notion of the a posteriori character of the cos-
mological and design arguments is untenable because neither is empirical in the
sharp sense defined by Popper: that which some conceivable experience could
falsify. Hartshorne argues this is the only rigorous meaning we can attach to "empiri-
cal," pointing out that champions of empirical arguments for God have not shown us
"how experience might conceivably show that God did notexist" (p. 67).
In the last of these four lectures delivered at Union Theological Seminary, Hart-
shorne examines the relationships of his philosophical theism with science and
religion. The discussion with science is primarily devoted to the problem relativity
physics poses for his philosophy, a problem he frankly acknowledges (pp. 93-97).
While the emphasis is somewhat different, these remarks do not constitute any
significant departure from his other published comments (see my essay, "Is Process
Theism Compatible with Relativity Theory?" Journal of Religion,April, 1968). In
his discussion of religion, as in the Epilogue responding to Bultmann, Hartshorne
sharply distinguishes between the God of philosophy and the God of religion: "the
God of philosophy, or at least of metaphysics, is any creature's God, the God of
religion is the God of humanity, or more concretely, our God now. ... Concerning
'our God' all talk is confessional, but not concerning the God of creatures in general'
(p. 132). Greater attention to this distinction, made possible by process theism's
distinction between the abstract and the concrete (= the necessary and the con-
tingent) within God, would eliminate many unnecessary conflicts between philosophy
and theology.
LEWIs S. FORD, Raymond College,University of thePacific.

MARTIN, R. P. CarmenChristi.Philippiansii. 5-Ir in RecentInterpretation

and in the
Settingof Early ChristianWorship.Cambridge: University Press, 1967. 364 pages.
$10.50.
In this monograph, R. P. Martin presents the results of his extensive research on the
Christ Hymn in Philippians, judiciously evaluating previous contributions, and
cautiously developing his own viewpoint. He suggests that the hymn originally
consisted of six couplets, the last two being considerably longer than the first four.
Even this unbalanced result is achieved at the price of excising two clauses from the
last couplet. A note of uncertainty is noticeable here, for he grants that "in heaven
and on earth and under the earth" as well as "to the glory of God the father" are
consistent with the development and theology of the hymn. In short, Martin's
discussion reveals that the difficulties in Lohmeyer's original system of six three-line
stanzas have still not been resolved.
Martin's exegesis emphasizes that the pre-existent Christ refused to follow the
first Adam in attempting equality with God "as a gain to be exploited," giving up
his station of being God's image-glory to become a "servant" in the sense of late
Judaism's ideal of the righteous man who responds to suffering with obedience. This
leads to Christ's free act of submission to the cosmic realm of death in order that its
power might be broken to set men free. The turning point in the hymn is verse 9,
where God reverses the humiliating submission of Christ and grants him a name
(Lord) which betokens the status of divine equality which Christ had earlier refrained
from grasping. His lordship is cosmic and redemptive, so that in singing his praises,
the church gets caught up in his triumph over the evil powers.
It follows from this affirmation of lordship that the hymn does not aim to elicit
imitation of Christ. It celebrates salvation as a release from cosmic bondage rather
than as an achievement of ethical imitation. But what Martin does not satisfactorily

306

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 Book Notes
account for here is the paradoxical fact that Paul uses the hymn to urge the Philip-
pians to accept the mental attitude of humility which they are given in the Christ
event. Phroneinis used three times in the verses which introduce the hymn, and when
used in verse 5 it clearly does not mean "act as befits those in Christ Jesus" (p. 288).
The mental attitude of tapeinophrosyne which Paul recommends in 2:3 is unmis-
takably tied to the tapeinoimotif in the hymn itself. This connection remains para-
doxical for modern researchersbecause, like Martin, they approach the matter from
the perspective of the modern theological dilemma of imitation ethics rather than
from the historical analysis of the struggle in Philippi and the early church about the
proper Christian mental attitude. In this connection, one must examine Martin's
suggestion that Stephen wrote the Christ Hymn, because if Gerhard Friedrich is
right, Stephen belonged to that wing of the Hellenistic Church committed to a divine-
man theology and mental attitude. As Dieter Georgi and others have pointed out
on the basis of II Corinthians, this theology stressed not humility and obedience but
powerful manifestations of the spirit. Divine men like Stephen boasted of their
" equality with God" on grounds that they stood in a progressionof divine men which
included Moses and Christ. It seems unlikely that a movement promoting such a
mental attitude would produce a hymn emphasizing Christ's self-emptying and
humility! A new theory about the provenance of this hymn is thus called for, and one
can only hope that those who attempt to go beyond Martin will take account of the
Hebraic wording which he admits is there but cannot satisfactorily explain, and will
extend the search for cosmic interest beyond the strict bounds of Hellenism to the
apocalyptically oriented wing of the early church.
Martin's contribution is to have developed an interpretation of the hymn which
relates coherently to the dilemmas of cosmic futility in the first century and the
modern world, and also to have clarified a very obtuse and complicated debate in
such a way that further advances may now be made.
ROBERT JEWETT, Morningside College.

MAY, WILLIAM F. A Catalogueof Sins: A Contemporary

Examination
of ChristianConscience.
New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, I967. ix + 208 pages. $4.95.
The author describes this book as "a venture in problematic rather than [in] system-
atic theology" (p. 3). By this he means that it is concerned with the several forms of
sin as distinct human problems rather than with a generalized analysis of a single
undergirding human condition. This approach emphasizes the dynamic and pluralis-
tic qualities of human life and permits the commentator to deal freely with the unique
aspects of each kind of human wrong. By defining sin as "whatever we do that
violates our life in God" (p. 7), William F. May leaves room to deal with his subject
in a concrete manner and to avoid "sentimental, moralistic, legalistic, and abstractly
theological" approaches to his material. He succeeds.
May identifies twelve sins and devotes one chapter in the book to each. Three are
discussed as sins of man with his world (impurity of heart, faintheartedness, and
avarice); five, as sins of man with his neighbor (envy, hatred, neglect, betrayal, lust);
two are presented as contributing to a strategy and atmosphere of sin (deceit and
craving); and two as marking the ultimate destination of sin (pride and sloth). Each
of the essays is written with clarity of language, forcefulness of illustration, grasp of
theological issues, and sensitivity about the strengths and foibles of human behavior.
The book is well informed by knowledge of the ways in which classical theologians
have dealt with these matters as well as the insights which derive from non-theologi-
cal commentators. But such considerations are introduced only to strengthen the
interpretative value of the essays.

307

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