Rörelse och identitet : i Filipperbrevet 2:1–8 och Hodayot 18:3–9

Sammanfattning

This thesis examines self-lowering language as an identity- and community-forming practice through a comparative analysis of Philippians 2:1-8 and the Hodayot (1QHᵃ 18:3-9). The study aims to explore how language of self-emptying, dependence, and descent is articulated, what forms of subjectivity it produces, and how it operates performatively within its respective contexts. The analysis combines close textual reading with performative approaches to language and identity, and the comparison follows a second-order methodological framework drawn from comparative religious studies. The analysis demonstrates that Phil 2:1-8 articulates self-emptying as a dynamic and action-oriented movement, in which lowering is voluntary, relational, and directed toward the formation of communal ethos. In contrast, 1QHᵃ 18:3-9 employ a linguistically disciplining pattern, where self-lowering functions as a repeated confessional practice that constructs the subject through dependence and theological subordination. Despite surface-level similarities in vocabulary and imagery, the texts thus articulate distinct anthropological and theological models. The thesis argues that self-lowering language cannot be understood merely as an expression of humility or piety, but must be approached as a performative practice that shapes subjectivity, agency, and community in different ways. Through comparison, the study highlights how self-emptying may function as either transformative or norm-regulating, depending on linguistic structure, theological orientation, and social context.