Christ's body in Corinth
Subtitle: the politics of a metaphor
By: Yung Suk Kim.
Series: Paul in Critical Contexts
Publisher: Fortress Press
Published: 2008
Place of publication: Minneapolis, MN
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 142
ISBN-13: 9780800662851
Subjects: Jesus Christ -- Mystical body -- History of doctrines -- Early church, ca. 30-600; Bible. -- N.T. -- Corinthians, 1st -- Criticism, interpretation, etc; Church -- Biblical teaching
Other titles: Deconstructing a social world through metaphor
First sentence: A timely discussion of a key Pauline theme and its value for the global church // Challenges a consensus regarding the "politics" of 1 Corinthians
Description: Yung Suk Kim takes up the language of "body" that infuses 1 Corinthians, Paul's most complicated letter, and the letter that provides us the most information, and poses the sharpest questions, about social realities in the early church. Kim argues against the view that in speaking of the church as Christ's body Paul seeks to emphasize unity and the social boundary. Against the conventional rhetoric of the "body politic" in Greco-Roman philosophy, Kim argues that Paul seeks rather to nourish the vitality of a diverse community and to criticize the ideology of a powerful in-group in Corinth, a message of particular importance for contemporary global Christianity.



"I highly recommend this work to all who take seriously Paul's metaphor of 'the body of Christ.' Kim interprets the metaphor as an alternative vision of vital reconciling community, over against conceptions that emphasize boundary markers to establish social groups. What is at stake in the interpretation of 1 Corinthians, he argues, is not just the ways first-century Christians constructed and lived out social unity but the consequences of our choices for the way we live out our own responsibilities today." David Odell-Scott, Professor of Philosophy, Kent State University.

About the Author
Yung Suk Kim is Assistant Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology, Virginia Union University, in Richmond, Virginia. Author web site http://www.youaregood.com
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 125-138) and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction: The price of unity; title: The body of Christ today; title: Reading as a citizen of the world; title: A few words about method; title: Community as body; title: Community in theological and historical approaches; title: Sociological or social-scientific approaches; title: The approach of the history-of-religions school; title: Boundaries; title: Identity; title: Structure or power relationships; title: The conception of community called for in our present context; title: Community as the body of Christ; title: The body of Christ as organic unity; title: The body of Christ as corporate solidarity; title: Christological approaches; title: Conceiving the body of Christ in a cruciform reality; title: Community in Christ; title: An alternate reading of in Christ in First Corinthians; title: In Christ as a modal relation : dying with Christ; title: In Christ as a third space-time; title: The body politic and the body of Christ; title: The body politic in the Greco-Roman and ancient Jewish worlds; title: The politics of the hegemonic body; title: The body politic of the democratic-inclusive body; title: Paul and the democratic-inclusive body; title: The disembodiment of Christ in Corinth; title: Divisions; title: Sexual immorality; title: Marriage-related matters; title: Eating meat sacrificed to idols; title: Rights of Paul; title: Women's head covering; title: The Lord's supper; title: Resurrection; title: The life of the body of Christ in First Corinthians; title: Language for the body in First Corinthians; title: An ethic of the christic body; title: Tracing the christic body in First Corinthians; title: Outline of the discursive figurative structure of First Corinthians; title: 1:1-17 Paul, Apostle of Christ Jesus, and the Corinthians, sanctified in Christ Jesus; title: 1:18-4:21 the cross as God's power, exemplified by the Corinthians and embodied by; title: Paul; title: 5:1-11:34 the Corinthians failure to embody cCrist crucified, Paul's exhortation to; title: The Corinthians calling for participation in christ crucified; title: 12:1-15:11 exhortation : the Corinthian body as christic embodiment; title: 15:12-58 as Christ crucified was raised, so the crucified body of the Christians will; title: Be raised; title: 16:1-24 conclusion; title: The life of the christic body in Corinth; title: Practicing the diversity of Christ's body; title: Diversity as discernment; title: Diversity as balance; title: Christ's body and multiculturalism.