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corpus-paul - Re: 'The Corinthian Crisis' - for review

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  • From: Richard Fellows <rfellows AT intergate.bc.ca>
  • To: "Corpus-paul" <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: 'The Corinthian Crisis' - for review
  • Date: Fri, 28 Jan 2000 00:44:56 -0800


Paul Toseland has made available to us his work on the Corinthian crisis.

>I would like to draw the attention of list members to a slight revision
>of my recently completed doctoral dissertation, 'The Corinthian Crisis:
>A reconstruction of the events leading up to the composition of the
>Letter of Tears, and of 2 Corinthians', now available at
>
>http://www.toseland.f9.co.uk/paul/ccindex.htm

I would like to recommend that listers take a look at this work, because it
makes a number of important points on the Paul's interactions with the
Corinthians. His comments on methodology are well made and demonstrate a
keen (and all too rare) understanding of probability theory. He stresses
the need for economy when reconstructing the events that lie behind the
Corinthian letters. Too many reconstructions require too many unlikely
events, making Paul's interactions with the Corinthians into a kind of
roller-coaster ride.

He argues persuasively that Paul's second visit to Corinth is unlikely to
have been between 1 Cor and 2 Cor, and that the arguments against placing
it before 1 Cor are weak. He also demonstrates that the travel plan of 2
Cor 1.15-16 was made before 1 Cor, and suggests that Paul had sent Timothy
to Corinth to make preparations for his own visit.

He goes on to argue that Paul cancelled the visit announced in 1 Cor 16.5
and later reinstated it when writing 2 Cor. I am not convinced: it seems
unnecessary to hypothesise three changes of plan where one is all that we
need. Also, I don't quite understand how 'to spare you I came no more to
Corinth' (2 Cor 1.23) can refer to a cancelled visit which had been
re-instated and was still scheduled to go ahead. Surely 1.23 implies that
the time that had been set for the cancelled visit was in the past when 2
Cor 1.23 was written.

Richard Fellows.





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