This book shows how in the Corinthian letters Paul was fashioning the principles that later authors would use to interpret scripture. This engagingly written demonstration of the hermeneutical impact of Paul's correspondence on early Christian exegetes also illustrates a new way to think about the history of reception of biblical texts.

Rhetorical Interaction in 1 Corinthians 8 and 10 is a formal analysis of Paul's rhetorical interaction with the Corinthians over the issues of participation in the cultic meal (1 Cor. 10:1-22) and the eating of idol food (1 Cor. 8:1-13, 10:23-11:1). The thesis is that Paul's theology and rhetoric are predicated on knowledge and love. Major portions of the book employ rhetorical, sociological, archaeological, and historical-critical approaches to examine the triangular interaction between Paul, the Corinthians, and the biblical texts, paying particular attention to the complex configuration of the Corinthian congregation, including the influence of proto-Gnosticism, as well as the ways Paul responded to the shifting situation and different issues. The two chapters on rhetorical-hermeneutical theory and criticism are especially creative as the author suggests a Chinese hermeneutic for cross-cultural dialogues, the issue of ancestor worship being a specific example.

This work casts new light on the genre, function, and composition of Paul's first letter to the Corinthians. Margaret Mitchell thoroughly documents her argument that First Corinthians was a single letter, not a combination of fragments, whose aim was to persuade the Corinthian Christian community to become unified.

Bringing “spiritual experience” into the domain of biblical hermeneutics, this book will certainly stimulate current debates within this field, among both Pentecostals and Christians of other traditions. The author also applies a Pentecostal hermeneutical methodology to Paul’s teaching on tongues and prophecy in 1 Corinthians 12–14, opening possibilities to a Pentecostal pneumatology that tends instead to focus on the Lukan narrative. Paul’s texts are reconsidered not as doctrinal or situational documents but as dynamic communication within a living community.

Paul's letters are of crucial importance for Christian theology and church life. The way in which the apostle Paul critically reflected on the meaning of the gospel message in light of Scripture, the traditions, ethics and Christian faith and hope, has had a significant and lasting impact on the Lutheran tradition. In this publication, the fourth and final in a series of LWF publications on biblical hermeneutics, renowned international scholars from the fields of biblical studies and systematic theology reevaluate to what extent twenty-first-century Lutherans can rediscover the Pauline paradigm of the "power of the Gospel" and hereby overcome ambiguous perceptions of the so-called "Lutheran reading(s)" of Paul. [Paulinische Hermeneutik. Die "Kraft des Evangeliums" erforschen] Die Briefe des Paulus haben eine grundlegende Bedeutung für die christliche Theologie. Besonders die lutherischen Kirchen sind dauerhaft davon geprägt, wie Paulus als Apostel die Bedeutung des "Evangeliums" im Lichte der Auslegung von Schrift und Tradition sowie der Konzeption frühchristlicher Ethik und der Explikation von Hoffnung und Glaube herausgearbeitet und interpretiert hat. Die vorliegende Anthologie schließt einer Folge von vier LWB Publikationen zur biblischen Hermeneutik ab. International renommierte Bibelwissenschaftler und Systematische Theologen diskutieren, in welcher Weise lutherische Theologie im 21. Jahrhundert das paulinische Konzept von der "Kraft des Evangeliums" so wiederentdecken kann, dass ambivalente Vorstellungen von der sog. "Lutherischen Paulusperspektive" neu überdacht und überwunden werden können.

In recent years, scholars from both Christian and Jewish backgrounds have tried to rethink the relationship between earliest Christianity and its Jewish milieu; and Paul has emerged as a central figure in this debate. Francis Watson contributes to this scholarly discussion by seeing Paul and his Jewish contemporaries as, above all, readers of scripture. However different the conclusions they draw, they all endeavour to make sense of the same normative scriptural texts - in the belief that, as they interpret the scriptural texts, the texts will themselves interpret and illuminate the world of contemporary experience. In that sense, Paul and his contemporaries are standing on common ground. Far from relativizing their differences, however, it is this common ground that makes such differences possible. In this new edition Watson provides a comprehensive new introduction entitled 'A Response to My Critics' in which he directly engages with the critics of the previous edition. There is a substantial new Preface and two new Appendices, and the text has been fully revised throughout.

This second volume of studies by members of the SBL Seminar on Ancient Myths and Modern Theories of Christian Origins reassesses the agenda of modern scholarship on Paul and the Corinthians. The contributors challenge the theory of religion assumed in most New Testament scholarship and adopt a different set of theoretical and historical terms for redescribing the beginnings of the Christian religion. They propose explanations of the relationship between Paul and the recipients of 1 Corinthians; the place of Paul's Christ-myth for his gospel; the reasons for a disinterest in and rejection of Paul's gospel and/or for the reception and attraction of it; and the disjunction between Paul's collective representation of the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians and the Corinthians' own engagement with Paul in mythmaking and social formation, including mutual (mis)translation and (mis)appropriation of the other's discourse and practices.

The fruit of decades of research, the picture of Paul that Martyn paints in this major work is arresting: both horrified and thankful to find in the crucifixion of God's Christ the death of the old cosmos and the birth of the new one, Paul was able to pre

A signature volume in the NIV-based New American Commentary series, New Testament professor Mark Taylor offers his exposition of the popular book of 1 Corinthians to give readers a deeper understanding of its content and context.

At the heart of Paul’s Corinthian correspondence is a historical puzzle. How did the relative calm of 1 Corinthians deteriorate into the chaos of 2 Corinthians, and what role did the so-called Jewish “super-apostles” play in that conflict? This book proposes a new solution: it was Paul, not his rivals, who shot the first volley in the Corinthian conflict. Paul’s claims of unique authority—for instance, as the architect atop whose foundation all others must build (1 Cor 3:10) and the Corinthians’ father while others are mere pedagogues (4:15)—would relegate other leaders to lesser positions. His contention that accepting financial support put an obstacle before the gospel (9:12) would jeopardize the livelihood of apostles who relied on such support. Finally, Paul’s claim that he becomes “lawless to the lawless” (9:21) or that “circumcision is nothing” (7:19) could throw into question Paul’s own Jewishness (cf. 2 Cor 11:22). By reading the Corinthian correspondence against the grain—imagining how Paul’s letter might have backfired for an audience who did not yet take him as scripture—this book explores how misunderstandings and misinterpretations can fracture church communities and cause a ripple effect of conflict and accusation.