Abstract
This is the second volume of Brock and Wannenwetsch’s theological commentary on 1 Corinthians covering chapters 10–16 of the letter. It follows on from The Malady of the Christian Body, which is prerequisite reading for this second volume. This two-part commentary is offered, in a sense, as a different genre of commentary and one that self-consciously departs from the accepted norms of biblical commentaries as they are currently written. Brock and Wannenwetsch explain, in contrast to commentaries that first undergo the ‘more basic “objective” work of historical and theological exegesis’ followed by a concluding section on impact, ‘we have methodologically allowed pastoral considerations to enter our reflections at a much earlier stage as a trigger or mediating matrix within which exegetical insights can emerge’. Hence, they refer to a ‘double looping reflection’ of beginning with and returning to pastoral concerns (p. 126). And it is this exercise, they argue, that facilitates ‘the Apostle’s unleashing of a much wider scope of his concerns to us’ (p. 126).
On the one hand, therefore, there is simply an upfront admission that we all bring ‘powerful explanatory categories to the text inherited from our modern cultural, political, and ideological locations’ (p. ix). On the other hand, however, this is an exercise in a pastorally-oriented exegesis based on the assumption that the ancient text (and Paul himself) has something to say directly to the modern context. Thus, the authors connect Paul’s concern for the Corinthian church to a reasonably broad range of contemporary Christian communities that they have in view. This is done through reference to power structures, leadership, liturgy, ethical questions and pastoral concerns, many of which will be recognisable and/or familiar to Christian readers. Moreover, the commentary is peppered with personalised pastoral wisdom clearly rooted in years of church life. As such, this is a valuable exercise, and will open up further discussion on how we might read the contextually situated letters of the past for a modern world.
For all this, for better or worse, it is still an academic commentary and not primarily a pastor’s or a preacher’s guide. The commentary on the text is situated as scholarly work and addresses specifically academic concerns in relation to Paul and the letter, with a view to past and present academic debates and disagreements. Consequently, despite the threads that run through the volume referring the reader to contemporary ecclesial matters whether they be moral, liturgical or political in nature, there is still a wealth of scholarly engagement with the academy in view.
In terms of the big picture, the scene is set in volume one where the reader encounters Brock and Wannenwetsch’s hermeneutic most explicitly stated, namely, attention to the ‘moral dimension of our reading strategies’ (The Malady, p. 88; original emphasis). By this, they mean that the Christian exegetical task should be rooted in an understanding that we are members of a body, not only with a responsibility for one another’s welfare, but under the ethical imperative to love one another as Christ loves us. The ethical constraints of the Christian community, they argue, should be brought to bear on our readings of scripture, including the ways in which we understand the spirit in which the text was written in the first place. Thus, this commentary assumes that Paul addresses the Corinthian church primarily from a posture of parental love and that it is this parental love that shapes his concerns, his tone and his theology. In addition to this, Brock and Wannenwetsch prioritize Paul’s theology of the cross stating early on in volume two, ‘we remain unconvinced by any reading that sacrifices the folly of the cross on the altar of a smoothly unfolding argument’ (p. 22). This is later expanded in relation to applicative aspects of their work where they explain that they hold to a theologia crucis, of sorts, ‘but one that does not, as some versions do, redirect attention away from the materiality of our lives by focusing on the individual benefits that can be reached by Christ’s death or by securing a place in heaven by focusing finally not on death but resurrection. Instead, it exposes how Christ’s work is to embed us more firmly and coherently in the created world in all its proper fullness’ (pp. 60–61). Thus, the loving community that is the body, the cross and the eucharist become unifying themes throughout.
The book itself follows the usual pattern for a commentary, taking the reader through chapter by chapter, broken up into smaller sections for discussion. The reader is thrown into 1 Corinthians 10 and Paul’s discussion of the danger of idols with reference to the types of the past imported into the Corinthian present. The discussion here sets the book up nicely around the idea that Paul has ‘offered them a clear criterion for judgment: they must become aware of the importance of resisting evil desires while distinguishing this active resistance from the exit provided by God’s faithfulness as coalescing in the eucharistic encounter’ (p. 25). In this chapter there is a suitably nuanced discussion where the authors map the shifting practices in relation to idols that correspond, not to a concrete set of do’s and don’ts, but to a concern for the welfare of brothers and sisters which, in turn, moderates behaviour.
They proceed to 1 Cor. 11:2-16 and the knotty issue of head coverings (or not) for men and women in the public assembly. It was disappointing to find here a re-working of various familiar arguments rooted in the assumption that the Corinthian women were using their newly-found liberation to throw caution aside, not caring who they shamed in the process. Brock and Wannenwetsch see this fundamentally as an ancient instance of the ‘war of the sexes’ (p. 28), with no real acknowledgement of the inequality inherent in the instruction for both men and women. Imagining that 1 Cor. 11:2-16 can be mapped simply onto the question of how cultural decorum relates to liturgical practice glosses over the far more difficult questions of why Paul (or the Corinthians) believed that head coverings ameliorated the natural shame that women bear in relation to men, Christ and the angels. These questions were not tackled here. In addition to this, whatever one’s view of the application of this chapter for the contemporary church (and this is truly a can of worms!), some reference to the damaging history of this chapter for women through the ages would have been welcome.
Shame becomes the connecting motif between the two halves of chapter 11, applied far less problematically to the question of rich and poor. ‘While there Paul was concerned with the appropriate appearance of female bodies that were desirably healthy and beautiful, in the second half of this chapter he directs attention to the shame inducing actions in worship that disfigure the bodies of potentially under-fed and under-provisioned members’ (p. 63). Here they posit that Paul’s main concern was with the fact that the Corinthians had conflated the public and private in the Lord’s supper. Thus, here it is the rich who were shaming the poor, bringing shame upon the church, the entire body. Hence, the unifying themes of the book converge: ‘The chapter sets before our eyes the inescapable and perennial need for the Christian church to negotiate decorum in the light of the gospel’s reign . . . The two parts of the chapter must thus be understood as expressing a single imperative: “Don’t give in to any form of spiritualizing belief in the surmounting of the creaturely condition of Christian existence in the world (as exemplified in hairstyling or eating)”’ (p. 66).
Turning to 1 Corinthians 12 and the gifts of the Spirit, the authors present a Pauline democratic pneumatology based on the idea of men and women as members of the body who are revealers of the Spirit to the body as a whole, rather than individuals who are possessors of ‘a portion of the respective gift allotted to him or her’ (p. 79). These gifts are not possessions, but works enacted in the body: ‘energēma—always enacted and always needing to be discerned in real time’ (p. 79; original emphasis). This, in turn, is connected to the covenant story of Israel, giving shape to the polity of the body. ‘Only when we grasp the unique role played by the covenant as the structuring form rather than a side component of Israel’s political existence are we prepared to understand the breathtaking grandeur of Paul’s pneumatological ecclesiology’ (p. 92).
This theology of the Spirit-filled and Spirit-organized body is brought to bear on various contemporary structures unified under the concept of a monarchic episcopate which is deemed to be inimical to Paul’s vision for the body in 1 Corinthians. This critique is applied both to certain Roman Catholic models as well as low church Protestant pastorates where, it is argued, a multitude of giftings is absorbed into single agencies (p. 105). The reader is taken through a Pauline pneumatology in relation to organs and worship bands, Roman Catholic hierarchies to Protestant mega-churches. In this, there is a welcome emphasis on Paul’s exhortation to give greater honour to the inferior member and the subversion of worldly hierarchies where the foolish shame the wise, the weak the strong, and so on. In addition, there are references to real experiences of living with disability and what that means for the body of Christ.
The treatment of 1 Corinthians 13 makes the excellent point that this is not an abstract philosophical rumination on the nature of love; rather this chapter positioned here in-between 12 and 14 roots the gifts as loving works of the community. Hence, according to Paul, love is an active posture within the community inextricably linked both to Christ and the exercise of the gifts within the community. Contextualized for this congregation in Corinth, the one that was misusing spiritual gifts, this chapter encapsulates the idea that this is ‘a love letter to a particular community “addressing” love rather than “describing” it in general terms’ (p. 132). In 1 Corinthians 14 they return to the public/private dichotomy and the exercise of spiritual gifts within this context discussing tongues, prophecy, and women in the assembly. There is an acknowledgement here of contemporary charismatic practices that might correspond to the Corinthian world. The discussion of chapter 15 and resurrection is helpfully expounded in the light of sacrifice and dying to self in order to be raised with Christ.
As with all commentaries on Pauline letters, there is a ‘Paul’ behind them that some will relate to and others will not. This is true of these volumes, which in many places, conform to how I, too, would apply this letter to a contemporary world. Thus, despite the frustrations that I have in the treatment of the women passages in this volume, it has much to recommend it and should serve to galvanise further conversation both with respect to how we conduct our biblical scholarship and how these ancient letters might come to life in the contemporary church.