Journal: Tyndale Bulletin
Volume: TYNBUL 74:1 (NA 2023)
Article: Dissertation Summary An Analysis Of The Concept Of ‘Peacemaking Through Blood’ In Colossians 1:20b: The Graeco-Roman And Jewish Background
Author: Diego dy Carlos Araújo

TynBull 74:1 (2023) p. 181

Dissertation Summary
An Analysis Of The Concept Of ‘Peacemaking Through Blood’ In Colossians 1:20b: The Graeco-Roman And Jewish Background¹

Diego dy Carlos Araújo

Resident Professor/Researcher in New Testament
SETECEB, Brazil
[email protected]

This study investigates which conceptual frames, or scenarios, the metaphorical expression εἰρηνοποιήσας διὰ τοῦ αἵματος τοῦ σταυροῦ αὐτοῦ in Colossians 1:20b might have evoked in the minds of the implied readers, and how those frames contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of peacemaking through blood in Colossians. Insights from cognitive linguistics, especially from frame semantics and conceptual metaphor theory, are applied in order to assess the potential frames triggered by the metaphorical expressions.1The overall thesis is that εἰρηνοποιήσας διὰ τοῦ αἵματος τοῦ σταυροῦ αὐτοῦ had the potential to activate various frames available to the conceptual system of the readers in Asia Minor – frames from both the Graeco-Roman and Jewish conceptual worlds – which enabled them to grasp the meaning and nature of the peace achieved by Christ on the cross.

After the introductory chapter, the study is divided into two parts, investigating Colossians 1:20b on the basis of the Graeco-Roman conceptual world (chapters 2 and 3) and the Jewish conceptual world (chapters 4 to 6). Chapter 2 investigates the pax romana as a viable Graeco-Roman frame for the interpretation of peacemaking through blood in Colossians. The imperial ideal

TynBull 74:1 (2023) p. 182

and propaganda of the pax romana encompassed a wide range of life within the Roman empire, including political and religious aspects. However, the peace it promised meant different things for different strata of society. According to the perspective ‘from below’ (the majority), it meant the imposition of Roman ways and the pacification of erstwhile enemies. In its essence, the Augustan peace was a ‘peace through victory’ (parta victoriis pax), so ‘peace through violence’. Another important aspect of the concept of the pax romana was its inextricable connection with the pax deorum (‘peace of the gods’), which was understood as the necessary precondition for the former. This dynamic was marked by the deep feeling of anxiety in face of the divine (Weltangst) characteristic of first-century Hellenistic and Roman religious experien...