Full Description
2020 Catholic Press Association honorable mention award for gender issues, inclusion in the church
When 2 Corinthians is read as a whole in the early manuscripts, we hear a distraught and defensive Paul, struggling to recover the respect of the Corinthians that he assumed in 1 Corinthians. Scholars have supplied a recent visit gone awry to explain this, but Wire argues that the Corinthians have not kept the restrictions Paul laid down in his earlier letter. It is Paul who has changed. No longer able to demand that they imitate his weakness as he embodies Jesus' death, he concedes and even celebrates that they embody Jesus' power and life and thereby demonstrate the effectiveness of his work among them.
With special attention to the women in Corinth who pray and prophesy, Wire looks at each part of 2 Corinthians through three feminist lenses: a broad focus on all bodies within the tensions of the ecosystem as Paul sees it; a mid-range focus on the social, political, and economic setting; and a precise focus on his argument as evidence of an interaction between Paul and the Corinthians. When Paul ends with "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the partnership of the Holy Spirit," the Corinthians have pressed him to reshape his message from "yes but" and "no" to "yes," from a tenacity of qualifiers and subordinations to an overflow of encouragements.
Contents
Contents
Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations
List of Contributors x
Foreword: "Come Eat of My Bread . . . and Walk in the Ways of Wisdom"
Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza
Editor's Introduction to Wisdom Commentary: "She Is a Breath of the Power of God" (Wis 7:25)
Barbara E. Reid, OP
Author's Introduction: "Who Is Adequate for These Things?" (2 Cor 2:16)
A Feminist Commentary?
One Letter or Many?
Where Are the Women in 2 Corinthians?
What Can 2 Corinthians Mean Today?
Who Is Writing to Whom, When, and Where? l
2 Corinthians 1:1-11 Paul Greets Corinth and Blesses God
A Feminist Lens at Three Ranges on Paul's Opening Greeting and Blessing
The Broad View of All Bodies in Time and Space, Death and Life
A Mid-Range Focus on the Political, Economic, and Social Context
A Close-Up Focus on the Interaction of Paul and the Corinthians
2 Corinthians 1:12-2:11 Paul Explains His Long Absence
A Feminist Lens at Three Ranges on Paul's Defense of His Past Actions
A Broad Focus on All Bodies in Space and Time, Flesh and Spirit
A Mid-Range Focus on Social, Political, and Geographical Aspects of Paul's Defense
A Sharp Focus on the Interaction of Paul and the Corinthians
2 Corinthians 2:12-3:3 Paul Begins His Defense
A Feminist Lens at Three Different Ranges
Paul's Persuasion within an Ecosystem of Time and Space, Life and Death
A Mid-Range Focus on the Social and Political World of Paul's Persuasion
A Close-Up View of Paul's Persuasion as Shaped by and Shaping the Corinthians
2 Corinthians 3:4-18 Transformed in God's Glory as Was Moses
A Feminist Lens at Three Ranges on Being Transformed in God's Glory
An Ecosystem of Life and Death, Glory and Obscurity, Time and Space
The More Specific Social, Political, and Religious Context
Focusing on Paul's Interchange with the Corinthians
2 Corinthians 4:1-15 A Light out of Darkness, a Treasure in Clay
A Feminist Lens at Three Ranges on a Treasure in Clay and a Light in Darkness
A Broad Focus on All Bodies in the Tension between Light and Dark, Life and Death
A Mid-Range Focus on the Social, Political, and Economic Setting
A Sharp Focus on the Interaction between Paul and the Corinthians
2 Corinthians 4:16-5:10 At Home in the Body and/or at Home with the Lord
A Feminist Lens at Three Ranges on Paul's Interpretation of Life and Death
Broad Focus on the Ecosystem Presupposed in What Is Seen and Unseen, in Death and Life
A Mid-Range Focus on the Political, Social, and Economic Setting
Focusing in on the Interaction of Paul and the Corinthians
2 Corinthians 5:11-21 A New Creation in Christ That Is Reconciliation
A Feminist Lens at Three Ranges on Reconciling with God as a New Creation
A Broad View of All Bodies Caught between Death and Life, Old and New
A Mid-Range Focus on the Social, Political, and Economic Setting of Paul's Argument
A Close-up of Paul's Interaction with the Corinthians, Especially the Women
2 Corinthians 6:1-7:4 Paul's All-Out Appeal: Open Wide Your Hearts
A Feminist Lens at Three Ranges on Paul's All-Out Appeal to the Corinthians
The Ecosystem Paul Presupposes of Trust and Distrust, Wide and Narrow
The More Specific Focus on Paul's Social, Political, and Economic Setting
The Focus Sharpened onto This Interaction between Paul and the Corinthians
2 Corinthians 7:5-16 Titus's Report and Paul's Joy
A Feminist Lens at Three Ranges on Paul's Joy at Titus's Report
With a Broad Focus on All Reality in the Tension between Grief and Joy
With Focus on the Social, Political, and Economic Context
With Focus Narrowed to This Interaction of Paul and the Corinthians
2 Corinthians 8:1-9:15 A Culminating Appeal for the Jerusalem Poor
A Feminist Lens at Three Ranges on Paul's Appeal for the Jerusalem Collection
The Ecosystem Assumed in Paul's Collection Appeal
The Social, Political, and Economic Contexts of Paul's Collection for Jerusalem
The Interaction of Paul and the Corinthians as Seen in His Collection Appeal
2 Corinthians 10:1-11:21a Paul's Rebuttal of His Rivals' Charges
A Feminist Lens at Three Ranges on Paul's Rebuttal to His Rivals' Charges
The Broad Ecosystem or Worldview Underlying Paul's Rebuttal of Rivals
The Social, Political, and Economic Context of Paul's Rebuttal
This Specific Interaction between Paul and the Corinthians
2 Corinthians 11:21b-12:13 Paul's Defense of Himself as a Fool
A Feminist Lens at Three Ranges on Paul's Speech as a Fool
The Political, Economic and Social Setting of Paul's Speaking as a Fool
The Broad Ecosystem or Cosmology That Paul Assumes in Speaking as a Fool
Focusing in on the Interchange of the Corinthians and Paul Speaking as a Fool
2 Corinthians 12:14-13:13 Paul's Plan to Come to Corinth
A Feminist Lens at Three Ranges on Paul's Preparing Corinth for His Arrival
With Broad Focus on the Ecosystem, Worldview, or Theology That Paul Assumes
On the Midrange Political, Social, and Economic Context
Focusing on the Interaction between Paul and the Corinthians
Afterword
Works Cited
Index of Scripture References and Other Ancient Writings
Index of Subjects
