1 And 2 Corinthians In Recent Study
1 AND 2 CORINTHIANS IN RECENT STUDY
The greatest part of the scholarly energy expended on these epistles is tied up with the kinds of issues already explored (see 9. 1 and 2 Corinthians, OCCASION above), or with the exegesis of particular passages and attempts to delineate specific situations or backgrounds to such passages. Four other areas are prominent in recent literature on the Corinthian epistles.
1. There is a wide-ranging debate over Paul’s view of the law (see esp. the chapters in this book on Romans and Galatians), and inevitably Paul’s epistles to the Corinthians play a part in that debate. This owes something to a few passages that specifically address the issue (notably 1 Cor. 9:19-23), but more to a perception that in these epistles Paul imposes some restraints, where in other passages he seems to see himself as free from law.
2. There is a rising concern to locate Paul, and these epistles in particular, against the backdrop of the social and anthropological conventions of the first-century Greco-Roman world. 71Such studies are useful; occasionally they too greatly ignore what the epistles themselves say; and in some instances they slip from responsible social history into fairly uncontrolled and speculative projections of sociology. 72
3. Doubtless owing to the worldwide growth of the so-called charismatic movement, numerous essays and books on 1 Corinthians 12-14 and related matters have attempted to break new ground on the nature of prophecy, the place of the χαρίσματα (charismata, “grace-gifts”, from χαρισμα, G5922), and the theology of the Spirit. 73
4. Owing to the influence of the various feminist movements in the Western world, and assorted responses to them, a large body of literature has also grown up around 1 Corinthians 11:2-16 and 14:33b-36. 74