Well, the past month has been difficult, mainly health-wise, but things are getting back to normal for me. Also, saw my doc yesterday and we worked out a couple of plans for the similar situations in the future. Last week I began a new parish Bible Series on 2 Corinthians and had the second class this morning. It went well both days and I am feeling excited regarding the way I have introduced the Letter and what Paul is doing in it. We spent the first week looking at Corinth, what kind of city it was, etc. Then we talked about paradoxical thinking vs non-paradoxical thinking, because Paul's theology is profoundly paradoxical and rests on the greatest paradox the world has ever known, namely a Crucified Messiah or Crucified Christ. When Paul met the risen Xt on the road to Damascus he met this incredible paradox face to face. It changed the way he saw and thought about reality, It changed the way he thought about God, and it remained burned into his soul (mind and heart) in a way which colors and shapes everything he says theologically.
But the Corinthians see reality differently, probably in the way most of us see it. What they see is the ordinary way we think of things: If weak, then NOT strong; if poor then NOT rich; if cast down then NOT raised up; if dead then NOT alive; if human then NOT divine, of suffering then NOT comforted, if of God then NOT subject to sin/godlessness, and so forth. This is a fairly "Greek" way of thinking. Greeks thought in terms of thesis (weakness), antithesis (strength) and synthesis (golden mean of some sort). They would have avoided radical positions on either side (thesis/antithesis) and accept as wise some sort of compromise (synthesis). But Christianity is radically different; its greatest wisdom and truth is paradoxical at its heart: In Christ, if weak then strong (power is perfected in weakness), if poor then rich (blessed are the poor, theirs is the Kingdom of God), if cast down then raised up (we believe and live in a Crucified Christ), if human then also divine (to the extent we are authentically human we reveal or are transparent to God), if God (of God) then godless and subject to death (Jesus as crucified One), and so on.
So, Paul is coming to a church he has founded and spent 18 months with. They are "baby Christians" living in a Greco-Roman culture entirely foreign to paradoxical theology and philosophy. Moreover, they have personal differences with Paul which are also culturally driven crying for reconciliation and are being influenced by "Apostles" proclaiming a "different" Gospel. All of this leads to significant doubts held by the Corinthians in Paul's regard. They question his Apostleship, his message, his appropriateness as a minister of the kerygma, his sincerity and integrity as well as his love for them. And so, Paul takes on the defense of himself and his Apostleship, and as he does he develops a genuinely apologetic or answering theology rooted in his vision of the Crucified Christ. He sees with new eyes and is hoping that through his ministry the Holy Spirit will empower the Corinthians to see and approach reality similarly in order that reconciliation can be fully achieved and the gospel of the Crucified Christ proclaimed.
It is exciting to teach this material. I have already come to greater personal understanding in many ways by approaching the Letter in this particular way. Especially, I am freshly aware of the way we cannot grasp paradox but instead need for paradox to grasp/take hold of us --- to open our eyes and hearts to reality in a way which creates astonishment, joy, and genuine hope. Finding ways to encourage the same experience in the class is demanding but also, inevitably, the job of the students and the Holy Spirit together. I am also looking ahead and planning the next book we will study. I am thinking perhaps we can do the Gospel of Mark next. There is a strong paradoxical dynamic in that book and it will allow the class more opportunity to grow in this even as we leave Paul for the time being.
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