Joshua Jipp – Christ is King

  Guest: Joshua W. Jipp is Assistant Professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Josh did his Ph.D. in New Testament at Emory University, a ThM from Duke Divinity School, an MDiv from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and a BA from Northwestern College. In addition to his recent book Christ is King, he is also the author of a book that situates Luke-Acts in its Greco-Roman context: Divine Visitations and Hospitality to Strangers in Luke-Acts: An Interpretation of the Malta Episode in Acts 28:1-10 (Leiden: Brill, 2013).  He has also written numerous journal articles and chapters for edited volumes, including, “Ancient, Modern, and Future Interpretations of Romans 1:3-4: Reception History and Biblical Interpretation” in Journal of Theological Interpretation and “The Son’s Entrance into the Heavenly World: The Soteriological Necessity of the Scriptural Catena in Hebrews 1.5-14” in New Testament Studies.  Professor Jipp also won the prestigious “Paul J. Achtemeier Award” through the Society of Biblical Literature for his paper: “Christ the King as Living Law: Paul’s ‘the Law of Christ’ and Ancient Kingship.” Episode Details: In this episode, Matthew Bates and Josh Jipp converse about Josh’s new book Christ is King.  At the heart of Josh’s book is a proposal for a paradigm shift regarding the controlling metaphor in Paul’s Christology–namely, that Jesus was regarded by Paul above all else as a king, a Son of David and the enthroned Son of God.  Together Josh and Matt explore the implications of Josh’s proposal for key topics in Paul’s theology, such as justification, law, proper expressions of praise, and ruling alongside the king.  Expanding beyond the book itself, Josh answers questions regarding his motivation for writing Christ is King and his methodology.  Josh also begins to outline why his proposal is significant not just for scholarship, but for church and world–topics we certainly hope to hear more about from Josh in the future. Book Details: Christ is King: Paul’s Royal Ideology (Fortress, 2015). Until recently, many scholars have read Paul’s use of the word Christos as more of a proper name (“Jesus Christ”) than a title, Jesus the Messiah. One result, Jipp argues, is that important aspects of Paul’s thinking about Jesus’ messiahship have gone unrecognized. Jipp contends that kingship discourse is an important source for Paul’s christological language: Paul uses royal language to present Christ as the good king.