Paul, his converts, and mission in First Corinthians.
Published: 2004
Language: eng
Number of pages: 394
Description: This dissertation examines Paul's understanding of the roles that he and his converts played in the outworking of the Christian mission. As its first chapter explains, this study focuses on 1 Corinthians because that letter contains more references than other Pauline letters to situations in which Christians came into contact with non-Christians. One might therefore expect that 1 Corinthians would contain explicit commands, or at least frequent encouragements, for Paul's converts to maximize the missionary potential of those contacts. Many scholars follow Adolf Harnack in reading 1 Corinthians on the assumption that such a missionary motive does in fact underlie Paul's counsel.By contrast, however, this study follows William Wrede and others in arguing that Paul did not intend his converts to engage in mission. Its second, third, and fourth chapters examine portions of seven chapters in 1 Corinthians in support of the conclusion that Paul was primarily concerned to maintain the integrity of his churches' purity: their separation from the non-Christian world, not their engagement with it. Following these exegetical chapters, a thematic approach is taken in chapters five and six in order to demonstrate that this non-interest in an ongoing and broadly-based mission was not an anomaly but rather a coherent part of Paul's thought. His view of his own apostolate and his understanding of the church are shown to support the view that he neither advocated nor envisioned further missionary work in places he had already completed his initial missionary work. As small and as scattered as they were, the churches he founded appear to have been a sufficient fulfilment, in his view, of the mission entrusted to him.Finally, the thesis that Paul did not encourage his converts to continue his mission is shown to have implications for other areas of study, including patristic views of the earliest Christian mission, the size and rate of expansion of the first churches, and the probable means by which they grew. It was more in spite of, than because of, Paul's own intention, that the communities he founded eventually became larger and more numerous.
Notes: Adviser: Terence L. Donaldson.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of St. Michael's College, 2004.

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Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 65-12, Section: A, page: 4595.