logo
Paul Through Mediterranean Eyes: Cultural Studies in 1 Corinthians, By Kenneth E. Bailey

Paul Through Mediterranean Eyes

Cultural Studies in 1 Corinthians

by Kenneth E. Bailey

More
Paul Through Mediterranean Eyes
Paperback
$49.99
  • Length: 560 pages
  • Dimensions: 6 × 9 in
  • Published: September 19, 2011
  • Imprint: IVP Academic
  • ISBN: 9780830839346
Other Formats:

Christianity Today Book Award winner

Paul was a Hebrew of the Hebrews, steeped in the learning of his people.

But he was also a Roman citizen who widely traveled the Mediterranean basin, andwas very knowledgeable of the dominant Greek and Roman culture of his day. These two mighty rivers of influence converge in Paul's first letter to the Corinthians.

With razor-sharp attention to the text, Kenneth Bailey examines the cultural milieu and rhetorical strategies that shaped this pivotal epistle. He discovers the deep layers of the Hebraic prophetic tradition informing Paul's writing, linking the Apostle with the great prophets of the Old Testament.

Throughout, Bailey employs his expert knowledge of Near Eastern and Mediterranean culture to deliver to readers a new understanding of Paul and his world. Familiar passages take on a new hue as they are stripped of standard Western interpretations and rendered back into their ancient setting.

REVIEWS

"A veteran student and observer of the Middle East, Ken Bailey has distilled his knowledge and experience in this work of deep pastoral sensitivity, allowing the apostle Paul to come into his own in a way that a conventional reading of Paul does not allow or encourage. Bailey's work teems with learning and insight, and, buoyed by a clear, lively style, it instructs as well as it illuminates and elevates. The book is a model of biblical scholarship freed of the cobwebs of the study, and consecrated to the life-giving work of the church. It is a 'double-decker sandwich,' to use Bailey's own figure, in which the sandwich is no less nourishing than the meat between the sandwich. I began reading it and couldn't put it down. Go and do thou likewise."Lamin Sanneh, D. Willis James Professor of World Christianity, Yale Divinity School
"Ken Bailey is pure gold. No writer I can think of has been a greater help for teaching the Scriptures with freshness and clarity. What a gift to have his insights on Paul."John Ortberg, Menlo Park Presbyterian Church
"New Testament scholars recognize Kenneth Bailey as that rare interpreter with intimate knowledge of Middle Eastern culture, ancient and modern. His latest volume now reveals rumination of the rhetoric that serves Paul's theology and ethics. Bailey's signal achievement is to rebut readings of 1 Corinthians as a haphazard document, obscurely reasoned. At once learned and deeply personal, this commentary will surely stimulate productive debate in the exegesis of one among Paul's weightiest letters."C. Clifton Black, Otto A. Piper Professor of Biblical Theology, Princeton Theological Seminary
More
Request an Exam or Desk Copy

CONTENTS

Abbreviations
Preface
Introduction
Prelude: The Prophetic Homily Rhetorical Style and Its Interpretation
Text and Commentary
0.1 Greeting and Prayer of Thanksgiving 1:1-9
1. THE CROSS and Christian Unity 1:10--4:16
1.1 The Problem: Divisions, Baptism and the Cross 1:10-16
1.2 The Wisdom and Power of God: The Cross 1:17--2:2
1.3 The Wisdom of God: Revealed Through the Spirit 2:3-16
1.4 Christian Unity: Paul, Apollos and Cephas as One3:1--4:16
2. SEX: Men and Women in the Human Family 4:17--7:40
2.1 Immorality and the Church 4:17--5:6a
2.2 (Three Roadblocks: Leaven, Immorality and the Law Courts 5:6b--6:8)
2.3 Theology of Sexual Practice: Kingdom Ethics6:9-12
2.4 Theology of Sexual Practice: Joining the Body 6:13-20
2.5 Sexual Practice in Harmony with the Gospel 7:1-40
3. CHRISTIAN AND PAGAN: Freedom and Responsibility 8:1--11:1
3.1 Food Offered to Idols: Freedom and Responsibility 8:1-13
3.2 Paul?s Personal Freedom and Responsibility 9:1-18
3.3 Freedom in Mission: Full Identification 9:19-27
3.4 Old Covenant Sacraments and Idolatry: Partial Identification 10:1-13
3.5 New Covenant Sacraments and Idolatry: No Identification 10:14-22
3.6 Food Offered to Idols: Freedom and Responsibility (A Final Word) 10:23--11:1
4. WORSHIP: Men and Women in the Church 11:2--14:40
4.1 Men and Women Leading in Worship: Prophetsand How they Dress 11:2-16
4.2 Order in Worship: Sacrament----The Lord's Supper 11:17-34
4.3 Gifts and the Nature of the Body 12:1-30
4.4 The Hymn to Love 12:31--14:1
4.5 Spiritual Gifts and the Upbuilding of the Body 14:1-25
4.6 Order in Worship: Word----Prophets and Speakers in Tongues 14:26-33
4.7 Women and Men Worshiping: No Chatting in Church 14:34-40
5. RESURRECTION: Faith, Christ and Victory 1:1-58
5.1 Resurrection: The Message and theValidity of Faith 15:1-20
5.2 Resurrection: Adam and Christ--The End of All Things 15:21-28
5.3 Resurrection and Ethics 15:29-34
5.4 Resurrection: Adam and Christ--The Nature of the Resurrected Body 15:35-50
5.5 Resurrection: Victory 15:51-58
6. CONCLUDING NOTES: Funding, Leadership, Greetings and Final Admonition16:1-23
Appendix 1: Common Themes in 1 Corinthians and Amos
Appendix 2: Evidence from the Oriental Versions Used in This Study
Glossary
Bibliography
Notations on the Oriental Versions Used in This Study
Ancient Author Index
Modern Author Index
Ancient Text Index
Scripture Index

More

BONUS MATERIAL

Download the Press Kit.

You May Also Like

Culture Care: Reconnecting with Beauty for Our Common Life, By Makoto Fujimura
Culture Care
Socially Awkward Evangelism: Overcoming Fears in Sharing the Gospel, By Mark R. Teasdale
Socially Awkward Evangelism
In the Beginning We Create: Reflections on Collaboration, Creativity, and Rest, By Nathan L. Nicholson
In the Beginning We Create
God in the Desert: A Spiritual Theology of Wilderness in the Old Testament, By Noel Forlini Burt
God in the Desert
Sabbath Gospel: A New Narrative of Time, Rest, and the Work of the Church, By G. P. Wagenfuhr and Amy J. Erickson
Sabbath Gospel
How to Be a Christian Influencer: Making Social Media a Social Ministry, By Jacqulyne Horbrook
How to Be a Christian Influencer
The Earth Will Be Filled: A Biblical Theology of the Glory of God, By Donnie Berry
The Earth Will Be Filled
Ten: Words of Life for an Addicted, Compulsive, Cynical, Divided and Worn-Out Culture, By Sean Gladding
Ten
When Life Feels Empty: 7 Ancient Practices to Cultivate Meaning, By Isaac Serrano
When Life Feels Empty
Beauty and Resistance: Spiritual Rhythms for Formation and Repair, By Jonathan P. Walton
Beauty and Resistance

ABOUT Kenneth E. Bailey

Kenneth E. Bailey

Kenneth E. Bailey (1930–2016) was an acclaimed author and lecturer in Middle Eastern New Testament studies. An ordained Presbyterian minister, he served as Canon Theologian of the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh. The author of more than 150 articles in English and in Arabic, his writings include Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, The Good Shepherd, Open Hearts in Bethlehem: A Christmas Drama, and The Cross and the Prodigal.

Bailey spent forty years living and teaching in seminaries and institutes in Egypt, Lebanon, Jerusalem and Cyprus. For twenty of those years he was professor of New Testament and head of the Biblical Department of the Near East School of Theology in Beirut where he also founded and directed the Institute for Middle Eastern New Testament Studies. Bailey was also on the faculty of The Ecumenical Institute for Theological Research in Jerusalem.Traveling around the globe to lecture and teach, Bailey spoke in theological colleges and seminaries in England (Oxford, Cambridge, Bristol) Ireland, Canada, Egypt, Finland, Latvia, Denmark, New Zealand, Australia, and Jerusalem. He was active as a Bible teacher for conferences and continuing education events in the Middle East, Europe, and North America, and he taught at Columbia, Princeton, and Fuller Seminary.

Related Titles