Paul's Offer of Leniency (2 Cor 10:1)


Book Description

Originally presented as the author's thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, 1998.




Snatched Into Paradise (2 Cor 12:1-10)


Book Description

In 2 Corinthians 12:1-10, Paul claims to have been snatched into paradise but then tells how he received a "thorn in the flesh". Many recent scholars contend that Paul belittles ecstatic experiences such as the ascent to paradise. This monograph places 2 Corinthians 12:1-10 in the contexts of ancient ascent traditions as well as other accounts of extraordinary religious experience in Paul's letters, and it engages premodern interpretation of the ascent. This study argues that for Paul, extraordinary experiences such as the ascent enable self-transcending love for God and neighbors.




1-2 Corinthians


Book Description

The Cornerstone Biblical Commentary series (18 volumes) provides students, pastors, and laypeople with up-to-date, accessible evangelical scholarship on the Old and New Testaments. Presenting the message for each passage, as well as an overview of other issues relevant to the text, each volume equips pastors and Christian leaders with exegetical and theological knowledge so they can better understand and apply God’s Word. This volume includes the entire NLT text of 1st and 2nd Corinthians. Ideal for the NLT reader who wants to do more in-depth study. William R. Baker, Ph.D., University of Aberdeen, is professor of New Testament at Cincinnati Bible Seminary in Cincinnati, Ohio. He is the general editor of Stone-Campbell Journal and the author and editor of several books and articles, including Evangelicalism and the Stone-Campbell Movement and Sticks and Stones: The Biblical Ethics of Talk. He has also written a commentary on 2 Corinthians for the College Press NIV Commentary Series. Ralph P. Martin, Ph.D., University of London, is in his fifth decade as a teacher, scholar, and mentor. He is Distinguished Scholar in Residence at Fuller Theological Seminary, at the Graduate School of Theology of Azusa Pacific University, and at Logos Evangelical Seminary in Pasadena, California. He is the author of numerous studies and commentaries on the New Testament, including Worship in the Early Church, the Philippians in The Tyndale New Testament Commentary series, and James in the Word Biblical Commentary, for which he also serves as New Testament editor. He also co-edited the Dictionary of Paul and His Letters and the Dictionary of the Later New Testament and Its Developments. Ordained to the Baptist ministry in 1949, Dr. Martin has pastored churches in Dunstable, Southport, and Gloucester, England. Carl N. Toney, Ph.D., Loyola University Chicago, is adjunct assistant professor of New Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. He edited and contributed to the revised edition of 2 Corinthians in the Word Biblical Commentary series and is the author of Paul's Inclusive Ethic: Resolving Community Conflicts and Promoting Mission in Romans 14-15. A licensed minister in the American Baptist Convention, Dr. Toney is also a member of the Society of Biblical Literature.




Paul and the Corinthians


Book Description

Jonathan B. Ensor revisits the scholarly consensus concerning Paul's intermediate visit to the Corinthians between his first and second epistles. Ensor re-evaluates the textual evidence, interpreting the event through a socio-historical lens that focuses upon ancient trial by ordeal and exit in the context of communal conflict, shedding significant light upon the social behaviours involved in this event and its interpretation. Beginning with a review of relational and social-spacial dynamics and sources of conflict, Ensor then explores the politics of displacement in Graeco-Roman antiquity to analyse the relational contours of Paul's intermediate visit to Corinth. From these insights, Ensor interprets Paul's autobiographical narrations of apostolic ordeal and Paul's announcement of imminent return to Corinth in 2 Corinthians. Ensor concludes that Paul, through the ordeal accounts, aimed both to reverse the judgments against him emerging from the intermediate visit, and to undermine the evaluative structure of his detractors who viewed him as impotent, illegitimate, and displaced.




Handbook on Acts and Paul's Letters (Handbooks on the New Testament)


Book Description

Leading biblical scholar Thomas Schreiner provides an easy-to-navigate resource for studying and understanding the Acts of the Apostles and the Pauline Letters. This accessibly written volume summarizes the content of each major section of the biblical text to help readers quickly grasp the sense of particular passages. This is the first volume in the Handbooks on the New Testament series, which is modeled after Baker Academic's successful Old Testament handbook series. Series volumes are neither introductions nor commentaries, as they focus primarily on the content of the biblical books without getting bogged down in historical-critical questions or detailed verse-by-verse exegesis. The series will contain three volumes that span the entirety of the New Testament, with future volumes covering the Gospels and Hebrews through Revelation. Written with classroom utility and pastoral application in mind, these books will appeal to students, pastors, and laypeople alike.




Second Corinthians


Book Description

Second Corinthians is often regarded as the most personal of Paul's letters. In this letter Paul more than once fiercely counters the attacks of his opponents. He extensively describes both the quality and circumstances of his apostolic existence: the sufferings he endures, the opposition he encounters, and his continual care for the churches. Second Corinthians is, therefore, highly significant theologically as well as autobiographically. This letter is an especially important document because of Paul's ongoing reflection on his ministry. It is both profound in its content and style for its original audience as well as for today's readers. It is a message that is relevant to Christians today. Jan Lambrecht, SJ, is professor emeritus of New Testament and biblical Greek at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium.




Cornerstone Biblical Commentary, 1 - 2 Corinthians


Book Description

The Cornerstone Biblical Commentary series (18 volumes) provides students, pastors, and laypeople with up-to-date, accessible evangelical scholarship on the Old and New Testaments. Presenting the message for each passage, as well as an overview of other issues relevant to the text, each volume equips pastors and Christian leaders with exegetical and theological knowledge so they can better understand and apply God's Word. This volume includes the entire NLT text of 1st and 2nd Corinthians. Ideal for the NLT reader who wants to do more in-depth study. William R. Baker, Ph.D., University of Aberdeen, is professor of New Testament at Cincinnati Bible Seminary in Cincinnati, Ohio. He is the general editor of Stone-Campbell Journal and the author and editor of several books and articles, including Evangelicalism and the Stone-Campbell Movement and Sticks and Stones: The Biblical Ethics of Talk. He has also written a commentary on 2 Corinthians for the College Press NIV Commentary Series. Ralph P. Martin, Ph.D., University of London, is in his fifth decade as a teacher, scholar, and mentor. He is Distinguished Scholar in Residence at Fuller Theological Seminary, at the Graduate School of Theology of Azusa Pacific University, and at Logos Evangelical Seminary in Pasadena, California. He is the author of numerous studies and commentaries on the New Testament, including Worship in the Early Church, the Philippians in The Tyndale New Testament Commentary series, and James in the Word Biblical Commentary, for which he also serves as New Testament editor. He also co-edited the Dictionary of Paul and His Letters and the Dictionary of the Later New Testament and Its Developments. Ordained to the Baptist ministry in 1949, Dr. Martin has pastored churches in Dunstable, Southport, and Gloucester, England. Carl N. Toney, Ph.D., Loyola University Chicago, is adjunct assistant professor of New Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. He edited and contributed to the revised edition of 2 Corinthians in the Word Biblical Commentary series and is the author of Paul's Inclusive Ethic: Resolving Community Conflicts and Promoting Mission in Romans 14-15. A licensed minister in the American Baptist Convention, Dr. Toney is also a member of the Society of Biblical Literature.




2 Corinthians: The Christian Standard Commentary


Book Description

2 Corinthians is part of The Christian Standard Commentary (CSC) series. This commentary series focuses on the theological and exegetical concerns of each biblical book, while paying careful attention to balancing rigorous scholarship with practical application. This series helps the reader understand each biblical book's theology, its place in the broader narrative of Scripture, and its importance for the church today. Drawing on the wisdom and skills of dozens of evangelical authors, the CSC is a tool for enhancing and supporting the life of the church.




An End to Enmity


Book Description

“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.




Transforming Boasting of Self into Boasting in the Lord


Book Description

This book uses rhetorical analysis to illuminate one of the most fascinating and complicated speeches by Saint Paul: 2 Cor 10–13. The main problem of the speech regards Paul’s claim to be a true servant of Christ and to have the right to boast about it. Paul proves he is strong enough to be the leader of Corinth and paradoxically demonstrates that weakness should belong to the identity of an apostle. Another issue regards the legitimacy of his boasting. The egocentric boast based on the comparison with his opponents is the one that Paul calls foolish, but he is forced, nevertheless, to undertake it. The tool that ultimately enables him to transform self-aggrandizing speech into speech that is focused on Christ is his paradoxical boasting of weakness. The careful crafting of his discourse based on Christological principles ultimately speaks for qualifying it as a self-praise speech (periautologia) with a pedagogical, not defensive, purpose.