Beyond What Is Written: The Performative Structure of 1 Corinthians - Softcover

Milinovich, Timothy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1608999920 ISBN 13: 9781608999927

Publisher: Pickwick Publications, 2013

Synopsis

This book engages the structure and message of 1 Corinthians within its most relevant context of late Western antiquity's oral culture. Using a text-centered methodology, Timothy Milinovich demonstrates and analyzes a series of concentric patterns (or ring formations) through which Paul develops his arguments to the Corinthian church. Such patterns were ubiquitous in oral cultures and their literature. These structures, which are defined by objective lexical repetitions, aid the interpretation of an overall concentric pattern of three sections (A, 1:1--4:21; B, 5:1--11:1; A´, 11:2--16:24), nine ring sets (a, 1:1-17; b, 1:18--3:3; a´, 3:4--4:21; a, 5:1--6:20; b, 7:1-40; a´, 8:1--11:1; a, 11:2--14:40; b, 15:1-58; a´, 16:1-24), thirty-five ring units (e.g., 5:1-13; 10:1-17; 15:12-24), and numerous micro-rings (e.g., 4:6-8; 8:1-4). Analyzing these lexical repetitions presents a demonstrably coherent message as it progresses through the concentric portions of the text. These findings represent a departure from previous treatments of the letter as if it were a modern, linear essay. As shown throughout this work, many linear treatments view the units like wooden blocks, only to build a single, unbalanced tower, and thus can miss important rhetorical connections in the concentric textual units. Milinovich treats the units and sets like interlocking pieces to present the inherent cohesiveness of the complex yet integral exhortation to grace, love, and unity that Paul wished to convey to this community on the verge of collapse. Among the conclusions drawn in this book, Milinovich argues that many parallel ring sets together present an anti-imperial message, and that both 11:3-15 and 14:34-35 are likely later interpolations. Scholars, pastors, and students alike will find many useful elements for interpreting or preaching 1 Corinthians in the modern world.

About this title

About the Author:

Timothy Milinovich is Assistant Professor in the Department of Religious Studies and the Pastoral Institute at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas. He is the author of Now Is the Day of Salvation (2010).

Review:

This rigorous, text-centered approach to the performative structure of 1 Corinthians yields new and refreshing insights into the unified organization of this complex and controversial letter of Paul. It provides a sound methodological model that can be profitably applied to the analysis of other letters. --John Paul Heil, The Catholic University of America

Milinovich presents us with a thoroughgoing and convincing analysis of chiasm as the fundamental structure of 1 Corinthians. After a meticulous description of the progress of each of the letter's arguments, he provides a helpful overview and conclusion to each part, presenting many useful insights into the text's puzzling exegetical problems. --Elliott Maloney, OSB, Saint Vincent Seminary

About this edition

• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1608999920
• ISBN 13: 9781608999927
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 260