The Corinthian Body

Annotation In this intriguing discussion of Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, Dale Martin contends that Paul's various disagreements with the Corinthians were the result of a fundamental conflict over the ideological construction of the human body (and hence the church as the body of Christ). This led to differing opinions on a variety of theological viewpoints--including the role of rhetoric and philosophy in a hierarchical society, the eating of meat sacrificed to idols, prostitution, sexual desire and marriage, and the resurrection of the body. Book jacket.

This book focuses on the controversy recorded in 1 Corinthians 15 regarding the denial of the resurrection of the dead. Many attempts and proposals have been made to understand the background of Paul's opponents. By focusing on the possible impact of Stoicism, Albert V. Garcilazo argues that the internal evidence of the letter indicates that some of the Corinthians had adopted a realized eschatology as well as an antisomatic view of the resurrection, which in turn prompted them to reject the future resurrection of the dead. Garcilazo suggests that the higher status members of the congregation were influenced by the cosmological, anthropological, and ethical teachings of the Stoa, especially the tenets of the Roman Stoics. He demonstrates this possibility by first considering the similarities between the doctrines of the Corinthian dissenters and the teachings of the Stoic philosophers, particularly the teachings of Seneca. Following a brief overview of Stoicism, the author concentrates on some of the theological issues revealed in the letter and examines how other scholars have interpreted 1 Corinthians 15. Finally, he provides a detailed analysis of 1 Corinthians 15:12-49. In short, Garcilazo argues that the philosophy of the Stoics seemingly contributed to the resurrection controversy recorded in 1 Corinthians 15.

The ailments of the contemporary church are remarkably similar to those suffered by the fractious Corinthian church in the first century. This is the challenge presented in The Malady of the Christian Body, a two-volume commentary by Brian Brock and Bernd Wannenwetsch. The manner in which Paul engages questions of factionalism, sexuality, legal conflict, idolatry, dress codes, and eating habits reveals that neither the malady he diagnoses nor the therapy he offers track the dominant accounts currently on offer of the malaise suffered by today's church. This volume depicts the Apostle as carefully examining the organic whole that is the body of Christ in order to detect obstacles to the healthy flow of powers that sustain its life. The therapy that is then offered comes by way of a redirection of the Corinthian believers' attention to the ways in which they can embrace God's active working among them to heal their broken unity. This book breaks new ground in crossing and reconfiguring the traditional disciplinary boundaries between biblical studies, systematic theology, and theological ethics.

* A timely discussion of a key Pauline theme and its value for the global church * Challenges a consensus regarding the "politics" of 1 Corinthians

Alistair May explores the part played by sexual ethics and the rhetoric of sexual morality in the formation of Christian identity by focusing on the longest discussion of sex in the New Testament - 1Corinthians 5-7. Viewing this passage as a unified discourse, he considers how Paul's ethics serve to give his converts a distinct identity. Although tools from the social sciences are used, the major focus of the work is in careful exegesis of the text. As the study progresses through the text of 1Corinthians 5-7, May argues that Paul strives to maintain an absolute distinction between insider and outsider in regard to morality. Immorality belongs exclusively to the outside and to the pre-conversion identity of the Corinthians. Hence those labelled immoral can no longer remain in the community. 1 Corinthians 6.12-20 reveals that, for Paul, sexual sin is unique in its destruction of Christian identity and that any sexual participation is a potential conflict with participation in Christ. Thus, chapter 6 is directly connected with the discussion of the legitimacy of marriage in 1Corinthians 7. Rejecting the scholarly consensus that Paul is reacting to ascetics, May controversially argues that chapter 7 should be read as Paul's commendation of singleness to a reluctant Corinthian audience. This is volume 278 in the Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement series.

In this innovative study, Anna Miller challenges prevailing New Testament scholarship that has largely dismissed the democratic civic assembly--the ekklēsia--as an institution that retained real authority in the first century CE. Using an interdisciplinary approach, she examines a range of classical and early imperial sources to demonstrate that ekklēsia democracy continued to saturate the eastern Roman Empire, widely impacting debates over authority, gender, and speech. In the first letter to the Corinthians, she demonstrates that Paul's persuasive rhetoric is itself shaped and constrained by the democratic discourse he shares with his Corinthian audience. Miller argues that these first-century Corinthians understood their community as an authoritative democratic assembly in which leadership and "citizenship" cohered with the public speech and discernment open to each. This Corinthian identity illuminates struggles and debates throughout the letter, including those centered on leadership, community dynamics, and gender. Ultimately, Miller's study offers new insights into the tensions that inform Paul's letter. In turn, these insights have critical implications for the dialogue between early Judaism and Hellenism, the study of ancient politics and early Christianity, and the place of gender in ancient political discourse.

Christians in the bustling, diverse city of Corinth in 50 BCE quarreled about how to be faithful to Jesus. In Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, he calls the small band of new believers to unity and cautions against factionalism, themes that pastor Dan Nighswander unpacks for contemporary readers in this thirty-second volume in the Believers Church Bible Commentary series. Any Christians who experience division over loyalty to different leaders, who find it hard to agree on sexual ethics (or to live up to them), and who feel tension between their theological convictions and social context will find common ground with believers in Corinth. Home of the exalted “love chapter,” which roots all Christian action in the greatest gift, 1 Corinthians equips those who follow Jesus to craft true community with other believers, differences notwithstanding. With keen theological, biblical, and pastoral insight, Nighswander illuminates for readers the apostle Paul’s challenge to the Corinthian church and calls Christians today to unity through the reconciling work of Christ. Free downloadable study guide available here.