Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians is a masterpiece of pastoral theology in which the Apostle to the Gentiles treats a number of issues that have caused difficulties in the Christian community at Corinth. The issues faced by Paul and his church reflect conditions and issues of the first-century. At the same time they often offer remarkable parallels to issues that confront Christian communities today. Study of the letter provides an opportunity to reflect on what it means to be a community of believers, who share many things but disagree on others. It challenges us to think about how we relate to the wider world that we fully engage even if it does not always share our values, provoking us to imitate Paul’s pastoral logic, which probes fundamental convictions to see how they apply in difficult situations. First Corinthians, then, is a must read for Christians who have made the decision to do life together as church. We hope this study will aid you in your attempt to do just that.
Meet Our Professors
Harold Attridge, Sterling Professor of Divinity at Yale Divinity School, has made scholarly contributions to New Testament exegesis and to the study of Hellenistic Judaism and the history of the early Church. His publications include Essays on John and Hebrews, Hebrews: A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews, First-Century Cynicism in the Epistles of Heraclitus, The Interpretation of Biblical History in the Antiquitates Judaicae of Flavius Josephus, Nag Hammadi Codex I: The Jung Codex, and The Acts of Thomas, as well as numerous book chapters and articles in scholarly journals. He holds degrees from Boston College (B.A), Cambridge University (M.A.), and Harvard University (Ph.D.).
David Bartlett, J. Edward and Ruth Cox Lantz Professor Emeritus of Christian Communication at Yale Divinity School, is the author of several books including Fact and Faith, The Shape of Scriptural Authority, Between the Bible and the Church, and What’s Good About This News? Preaching from the Gospels and Galatians. He is also the co-editor of the Westminster Bible Companion and Feasting on the Word commentary series. He holds degrees from Swarthmore College (B.A) and Yale University (B.D, Ph.D.), and is an ordained minister in the American Baptist Churches, USA.