Corinthians Redacted? A Discussion with Frank W. Hughes

Doth Protest

We took a break from our normal routine of Reformational history and theology. In this episode, Andrew is joined by Frank Hughes, a friend and colleague in ministry who served in the same diocese as him. Frank is also New Testament scholar who has recently co-written a book with his friend and fellow New Testament scholar the late Robert Jewett titled The Corinthian Correspondence: Redaction, Rhetoric, and History. In this book, Hughes and Jewett argue for a partition theory of 1st & 2nd Corinthians (or, that the letters we have today are actually edited, or redacted, products pieced together after Paul from several smaller letters that Paul actually wrote.) This made for a fun talk considering that Frank is a self-described "unrepentant historical critic" while Andrew sees himself more as "post-critical". Enjoy!

Frank Hughes holds a Ph.D. through Northwestern University and Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary where he studied under Robert Jewett. He also holds degrees from the University of Chicago and Seabury-Western Seminary. He has taught New Testament at numerous institutions including Codrington College in Barbados where he was Senior Lecturer. He currently serves as Priest-in-Residence at the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer in Ruston, LA. Visit his website here

Shownotes

-The books that Andrew studied in the seminar he mentioned that he took at Garrett were Theology and Ethics in Paul by V.P. Furnish and Solidarity and Difference: A Contemporary Reading of Paul's Ethics.

-The books Frank mentioned that argued for 1st Corinthians being an integral letter were Paul and the Rhetoric of Reconciliation by Margaret Mitchell and Sacra Pagina: First Corinthians by Raymond Collins. The book Andrew mentioned that argued for both 1st & 2nd Corinthians as integral letters was Donald Hall's Unity of the Corinthian Correspondence.

-The past studies on partition theories that Frank referred to in the episode were Robert Jewett's article "The Redaction of I Corinthians and the Trajectory of the Pauline School" from the Journal of the American Academy of Religion and Günther Bornkamm's study "Die Vorgeschichte des sogenannten zweiten Korintherbriefes".

-Frank mentioned two important works on culture and rhetoric in Paul's time: George Kennedy's The Art of Rhetoric in the Roman World and Judaism and Hellenism by Martin Hengel. The book Andrew mentioned where Luke Timothy Johnson finds some New Testament rhetorical-criticism to be excessive is Constructing Paul: The Canonical Paul, vol. 1