Rediscovering the Wisdom of the Corinthians Paul, Stoicism, and Spiritual Hierarchy

A bold new reading of 1 Corinthians in light of Greco-Roman philosophy The First Letter to the Corinthians begins with an admonishment of the church over their internal division and reliance on human wisdom. What exactly occasioned Paul's advice has perennially troubled New Testament scholars. Many scholars have asserted that Paul disapproved of the Corinthians' infatuation with rhetoric. Yet careful exegesis of the epistle problematizes this consensus. Timothy A. Brookins unsettles common assumptions about the Corinthian conflict in this innovative monograph. His close reading of 1 Corinthians 1-4 presents evidence that the Corinthian problem had roots in Stoicism. The wisdom Paul alludes to is not sophistry, but a Stoic-inspired understanding of natural hierarchy, in which the wise put themselves above believers they considered spiritually underdeveloped. Moreover, Paul's followers saw themselves as a philosophical school in rivalry with other Christians, engendering divisions in