Synopses & Reviews
In a series of exchanges with the Corinthians in the mid-50s AD, Paul continually sought to define the meaning of his message, his body and his letters, at times insisting upon a literal understanding, at others urging the reader to move beyond the words to a deeper sense within. Proposing a fresh approach to early Christian exegesis, Margaret M. Mitchell shows how in the Corinthian letters Paul was fashioning the very principles that later authors would use to interpret all scripture. Originally delivered as The Speaker's Lectures in Biblical Studies at Oxford University, this volume recreates the dynamism of the Pauline letters in their immediate historical context and beyond it in their later use by patristic exegetes. An engagingly written, insightful demonstration of the hermeneutical impact of Paul's Corinthian correspondence on early Christian exegetes, it also illustrates a new way to think about the history of reception of biblical texts.
Review
'This monograph is beautifully written. Margaret M. Mitchell builds upon her own extensive - indeed, famous studies of the Corinthian correspondence in creating a masterpiece. This remarkable tour de force is the most interesting book I have read on the New Testament for several years and I recommend it without qualification.' Iain Torrance, Princeton Theological Seminary
Synopsis
Mitchell demonstrates how in the Corinthian letters Paul was fashioning the principles that later exegetes would use to interpret scripture.
Synopsis
Mitchell 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.
About the Author
Margaret M. Mitchell is Dean and Professor of New Testament and Early Christian Literature at the University of Chicago Divinity School. She is the author of The Heavenly Trumpet: John Chrysostom and the Art of Pauline Interpretation (2002) and the co-editor (with Frances M. Young) of The Cambridge History of Christianity, Vol. 1: Origins to Constantine (Cambridge, 2006).
Table of Contents
Preface; 1. The Corinthian diolkos: passageway to early Christian biblical interpretation; 2. The agôn of Pauline interpretation; 3. Anthropological hermeneutics between rhetoric and philosophy; 4. The mirror and the veil: hermeneutics of occlusion; 5. Invisible signs, singular testimonies: the agôn over interpretive criteria; 6. Hermeneutical exhaustion and the end(s) of interpretation; Bibliography; Index.