This four-week course examines Paul’s short but theologically profound letter to the Philippians. Following some introductory discussion of the life and letters of Paul, we will read closely one chapter of the letter in each of our four sessions. Key themes include Paul’s imprisonments, the place of suffering in Christian experience, early Christology, early Jewish-Christian relations, justification by faith, resurrection and eschatology, church strife, church leadership, almsgiving, and Christian solidarity with suffering brothers and sisters.

Matthew Novenson is the Helen H. P. Manson Professor of New Testament at Princeton Theological Seminary. Before that, he was Professor of Biblical Criticism and Biblical Antiquities at the University of Edinburgh, UK. His books include "Christ among the Messiahs" (Oxford, 2012), "The Grammar of Messianism" (Oxford, 2017), "Paul, Then and Now" (Eerdmans, 2022), and "Paul and Judaism at the End of History" (Cambridge, 2024). A native of Chattanooga, Tennessee, he studied at Covenant College, Covenant Theological Seminary, and Princeton Theological Seminary.