God the teacher in 1 Corinthians 2 : God's threefold pedagogy and its resistance to prevailing forms of human wisdom

Abstract

Since the Enlightenment, the philosophical study of knowledge has had a marked influence on the understanding of Christian faith and theology in relation to epistemology. The Enlightenment evaluated religious knowledge according to the same epistemic norms applied to all other forms of knowledge. In resistance to these epistemic norms, some theologians and Biblical scholars, such as Karl Barth and the apocalyptic interpreters of the Apostle Paul, have endeavored to describe an alternative theological epistemology found in Paul’s epistles. However, in many cases, these interpretations and studies have not taken into account the specific social and historical circumstances that Paul’s epistles were written to address.

This dissertation attempts to explain the epistemic and pedagogical norms implicit in 1 Corinthians 2. In resistance to the Greco-Roman conventions regarding wisdom and education that were fomenting competition and division in the Corinthian fellowship, Paul explains an alternative way of knowing God. This study establishes and articulates the interpretation of Paul via three arguments. The first argument demonstrates Paul’s awareness of ancient pedagogy, particularly with regard to the Greco- Roman wisdom tradition, and the way philosophical education contributes to the ecclesial divisions in Corinth. Next, the case is made that Paul portrays God Himself as the Corinthians’ teacher in opposition to the various human teachers the Corinthians would have been accustomed to trusting. Finally, the divine pedagogy found in 1 Corinthians 2 is described in a threefold pattern: (1) Jesus’s story as the paradigm of human redemption, (2) the collaborative inspiration of human teachers by the Spirit, and (3) the transformation of the believers’ propositional faith in God into a relational knowledge and love of God.