A few months back, I published an article with Canadian Theological Review called “Beholding the Word of Christ: A Theological Reading of Colossians.” It is now available for free online from the publisher (thanks!).
This is my crack at theological interpretation of Scripture and a reading of Colossians especially sensitive to its socio-historical context, its canonical context, and its reception. I am especially interested in a Word/Torah vs. Idol dynamic in Col 3:16 and a righteous hearing vs. idolatrous seeing motif in the letter as a whole.
I got some strong pushback from my editorial reviewers especially because I present the theology in Colossians as (what appeared to them to be) a criticism of visual liturgy. This made me go back and sort this out, and I was able to finish the article with a reflection on this that still maintains the validity of visual liturgy.
Anyway, this piece has been accused of being too wide-ranging and unwieldy. Perhaps, but I hope that what I lost in precision I made up for in fresh thinking and creative explorations in canonical interpretation.
