Robert M. Royalty, «Dwelling on Visions.On the Nature of the so-called ‘Colossians Heresy’», Vol. 83 (2002) 329-357
This paper argues that Revelation provides a social-historical, theological, and ideological context for the reconstruction of the Colossian opposition. The proposal is that the author of the Apocalypse arrived in Asia after the Jewish-Roman war; his "dwelling on visions" and prophetic activity challenged the emerging hierarchy within the churches, provoking a response in Paul’s name from the church leadership. Correspondences and parallels between the description of the opposition in Colossians and Revelation are developed exegetically, showing that eschatology and Christology were key issues in the dispute. This paper reexamines the heresiological rhetoric of Colossians, raising methodological questions about other scholarly reconstructions of the opposition as non-Christian.
This paper brings a hitherto unexamined text in the history of Colossians’ research in support of the apocalyptic construal of the opposition. While I draw on Francis’ work, this proposal diverges from his and others’ Jewish mystical-ascetic solution because the text chosen for comparison is another text from the NT, the Apocalypse of John. The proposal is that Revelation provides a social-historical, theological, and ideological context for the reconstruction of the Colossian opponents.
This proposal of a Christian context for the opponents raises two important methodological issues to be considered before delving into historical and exegetical details. First, any reconstruction of the Colossian situation must include a plausible context in which the opposing groups would actually meet11. Christian groups and teachers would be the most likely dialogue partners in a Christian dispute over theology and praxis in the first century CE. We have far more evidence of intramural Christian polemic in first-century texts than we do that non-Christians were taking any notice of the new communities12. While there has been a strong tendency since