Why did a saint consider himself a fool? In this new study of the first four chapters of Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, we find a logical explanation in Paul's knowledge of philosophic-comic tradition within popular culture, an element of which includes a significant amount of gallows humor. This treatment examines such topics as traditi

Paul, the Fool of Christ: A Study of 1 Corinthians 1-4 in the Comic-philosophic Tradition (EARLY CHRISTIANITY IN CONTEXT)

Religion & Spirituality

Welborn, L.L.

Christian Books & Bibles

UNKNO

Welborn argues that Paul's acceptance of the role of a 'fool', and his evaluation of the message of the cross as 'foolishness', are best understood against the background of the popular theatre and the fool's role in the mime. Welborn's investigation demonstrates that the term 'folly' (moria) was generally understood as a designation of the attitude and behaviour of a particular social type -û the lower class buffoon. As a source of amusement, these lower class types were widely represented on the stage in the vulgar and realistic comedy known as the mime. Paul's acceptance of the role of the fool mirrors the strategy of a number of intellectuals in the early Empire who exploited the paradoxical freedom that the role permitted for the utterance of a dangerous truth. Welborn locates Paul's exposition of the 'folly' of the message about the cross in a submerged intellectual tradition that connects Cynic philosophy, satire, and the mime. In this tradition, the world is viewed from the perspective of the poor, the dishonoured, the outsiders. The hero of this tradition is the 'wise fool,' who, in grotesque disguise, is allowed to utter critical truths about authority. The book demonstrates that Paul participates fully in this tradition in his discourse about the folly of the word of the cross. The major components of Paul's argument in 1 Corinthians 1-4 find their closest analogies in the tradition that valorizes Socrates, Aesop, and the mimic fool. JSNTS 293 and ECC

Paul, the Fool of Christ: A Study of 1 Corinthians 1-4 in the Comic-Philosophic Tradition (The Library of New Testament Studies)

T&T Clark

Politics and Rhetoric in the Corinthian Epistles

Mercer Univ Pr

The so-called First Epistle of Clement has long intrigued historians of early Christianity. It responds to a crisis in the Corinthian church by enjoining an ethic of subordination especially to the presbyteroi and episkopoi, but the exact nature of that conflict has eluded scholars. L. L. Welborn sets out a clear methodology for reconstructing the historical situation behind the letter, then examines the conventions of its deliberative rhetoric, its blending of citations from the Old Testament and Paul’s letters, and its reliance on topoi from Greco-Roman civic discourse. He then presents a compelling argument for the letter’s occasion. First Clement assails a “revolt” among the youth against their elders, invoking epithets and characterizations that were, as Welborn demonstrates at length, common in political discourse supporting the status quo. At length, Welborn proposes two possible scenarios for the precise nature of the “revolt” in Corinth— a revolt possibly inspired by memories of the apostle Paul— and details the replacement of a Pauline ethic with a strict code of subordination.

The Young Against the Old: Generational Conflict in First Clement

Literature & Fiction

History & Criticism

Fortress Academic

In the context of growing inequality in the twenty-first century, That There May Be Equality seeks to give new audibility to Paul’s appeal to the principle of “equality” in the collection for the poor. L.L. Welborn traces the history of the concept of “equality” in Greek history in order to convey the potency of the idea which Paul invokes. He analyzes the structural inequality of the Roman economy, particularly that of Roman Corinth, and traces the emergence of Paul’s concern about inequality in the ekklēsia of Christ believers at Corinth. Welborn then analyzes Paul’s invocation of the principle of “equality” in his appeal for partnership in the collection for the poor in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, bringing Paul’s appeal to “equality” into the present-day crisis of global inequality.

That There May Be Equality: Paul's Appeal for Partnership in the Collection (Paul in Critical Contexts)

History

Ancient Civilizations

An End to Enmity casts light upon the shadowy figure of the wrongdoer of Second Corinthians by exploring the social and rhetorical conventions that governed friendship, enmity and reconciliation in the Greco-Roman world. The book puts forward a novel hypothesis regarding the identity of the wrongdoer and the nature of his offence against Paul. Drawing upon the prosopographic data of Paul s Corinthian epistles and the epigraphic and archaeological record of Roman Corinth, the author shapes a robust image of the kind of individual who did Paul wrong and caused pain to both Paul and the Corinthians. The concluding chapter reconstructs the history of Paul s relationship with an influential convert to Christianity at Corinth.

An End to Enmity: Paul and the "Wrongdoer" of Second Corinthians (Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft, 185)

World

de Gruyter

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