Includes bibliographical references (p. [217]-247) and indexes.

Introduction -- Context, purpose, and procedure -- Rhetorical approaches -- Further reflections on feminist rhetorical approaches -- Preliminary issues in the study of Pilippians -- Setting the stage -- Critical overview of scholarship on prominent images in Philippians -- Prominent imagery in Philippians -- Friendship imagery -- Military imagery -- Feminist assessment -- Reconsidering friendship imagery -- Reconsidering military imagery -- Reconsidering the connections between -- Friendship and military imagery -- Cues from this debate for the rest of the study -- Situating the rhetorics of Philippians -- Women's participation in cults at Philippi -- Excursus : imitation of women in cultic life -- Women's participation in the early Jesus movement at Philippi -- Unity rhetorics in ancient civic speeches -- Colonial status and military situation of Philippi -- How Philippians implements these rhetorics -- Evolving rhetoric : the interaction of arguments as they develop (section-by-section analysis) -- A. 1:1-11 -- B. 1:12-26 -- 1:27-2:4 -- 2:5-18 -- E. 2:19-30 -- F. 3:1-11 -- G. 3:12-21 -- H. 4:1-9 -- 4:10-23 -- Summary of the argumentative techniques -- Prevailing rhetoric : the major arguments -- Arguments by dissociation -- Quasi-logical arguments -- Arguments based on the structure of reality -- Arguments establishing the structure of reality -- Summary, implications, and suggestions -- A different understanding of the letter to the Philippians -- Implications concerning previous scholarship -- Usefulness for feminist and liberation interpretations.

Electronic reproduction. Palo Alto, Calif. : ebrary, 2009. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ebrary affiliated libraries.