Trip to Israel

Tomorrow morning I'll be leaving for Israel for two weeks, with a group from the Theology Department at the University of Nottingham. We'll be visiting significant locations, archaeological sites, and a conference on Early Judaism and the Gospel of John at Ben Gurion University, Beer-Sheva. I'll also have the opportunity to present a little discussion paper at the university, on "Issues Relating to the Literary Integrity of Sacred Texts, Using 1 Corinthians as a Case Study".

In short, I'll begin by summing up arguments against the unity of 1 Corinthians: Over the last hundred years, a number of influential scholars have argued that apparent incoherence in 1 Corinthians (inconsistencies, unclear flow, etc) is best explained by seeing the letter as a "letter-collection", pieced together by a redactor who wanted to create a systematic Paul-Corinth collection, for particular purposes. Having surveyed these applications of Redaction Criticism to 1 Corinthians, I'll then briefly explore three major hesitations that I have about this direction in 1 Cor scholarship: These hesitations are, respectively, methodological, hermeneutical, and exegetical.

In short, I don't think apparent literary incoherence in 1 Corinthians is best explained by appeal to Redaction Criticism - I believe we're on surer ground seeing the letter as a unity.

If you would like a more light-hearted illustration of Redaction Criticism, click here and read through the comments.

So be good while I'm away, and don't forget to vote in my poll!