Corpus-Paul

["Frank W. Hughes" <fwhughes AT sunbeach.net>]

Dave's comments about Colossians 1:15-20 brought back a lot of memories
of dissertation-writing.  (Yes, they were good memories.)  For
an interpretation of Colossians along these lines, and completely avoiding
any discussion of Gnosticism, see Frank W. Hughes, Early Christian Rhetoric
and 2 Thessalonians (JSNTSup 30; Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1989) 86-89. 
I related Colossians to the myth of a Makroanthropos and commented at some
length on its almost completely fulfilled eschatology, in contrast to that
of the historical Paul.  You would see also interpretation of both
Colossians & Ephesians along these lines in Otto Pfleiderer, Paulinism
(ET; London: Williams & Norgate, 1891).

Frank W. Hughes
Codrington College
Barbados