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Anthony C. Thiselton, Paul, the Fool of Christ: A Study of 1 Corinthians 1–4 in the Comic-Philosophical Tradition. By L. L. Welborn. Pp. xiv + 322. (JSNT Supplement Series, 293.) London and New York: T & T Clark International (a Continuum imprint), 2005. isbn 0 5670 3041 5. Hardback £65, The Journal of Theological Studies, Volume 57, Issue 1, April 2006, Pages 277–279, https://doi.org/10.1093/jts/flj077
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Extract
In spite of the deluge of books and research articles on 1 Corinthians produced over the last twenty years, L. L. Welborn advances understanding of this epistle further, although not quite as radically as he appears to claim. The affront caused by the proclamation of a crucified Christ, he argues, derived less from its supposedly anti-rational nature than from its apparent ‘stupidity’ in terms of social stigma and what was perceived as vulgarity. The practical participation of the apostles in this social disgrace compounded this: ‘It is the thesis of this book that Paul was governed by a social constraint in his discourse about the cross and in his account of the sufferings of the apostles of Christ’ (p. 3). ‘Because … in the cross of Christ God has affirmed nothings and nobodies, he [Paul] is able to embrace the role of the fool as the authentic mode of his own existence. Paul's appropriation of the role of the fool is a profound … manoeuvre, given the way that Jesus was executed’ (p. 250).
