PAUL AND THE RHETORIC OF REVERSAL: KERYGMATIC ...

esurrection. Thus, even if the Corinthians were not familiar with the motif of reversal in
Jewish literature, they were expected to be familiar with Paul’s kerygma. Secondly, it is
evident from 14:26 that the Psalms were utilised in Corinthian worship, suggesting an
awareness of the Psalmic categories and stereotypes upon which the letter draws. 74
Thirdly, it is important to recall that Paul’s letter was to be read and interpreted
communally. Thus it was not essential that each individual be able to recognise literary
devices or allusions. 75
I go on in the next chapters to demonstrate in further detail that this interpretation provides
a satisfying account of the arrangement of the letter.
Conclusion to Chapter 1
In this chapter I have argued that an appreciation of Paul’s argumentation in 1 Corinthians
must do justice to the decisive influence of his kerygma on his rhetorical arrangement.
This kerygma especially draws on and renegotiates the motif of dual reversal, found in a
range of Jewish liturgy, literature, and historical interpretation, and informing early Jewish
identity, worship, story-telling, and analysis of history. Early Christianity utilised and
transformed this theme of reversal in grappling with the Christ event; and Paul’s own
biography suggests that this motif was influential in the development of his own
conception of the kerygma. Paul’s other letters reinforce the notion that this motif of
reversal, renegotiated as Christian kerygma, was significant in his interpretation and
expression of the Christian faith.
74 Indeed, Ciampa and Rosner detect expected familiarity with a variety of Jewish cultural
references and technical terms: Ciampa and Rosner, First Letter, 8.
75 I am grateful to Richard Bauckham, who added this point in discussion of a paper that I
presented at St Andrews University on The Rhetoric of the Psalms and the Imagination of
the Apostle in 2009. Bauckham makes a similar point in relation to the Gospel of John
elsewhere: “Finally, it is essential to remember that few ‘ordinary readers’ of an early
Christian work such as the Fourth Gospel would read it alone, with only the resources of
their own knowledge to assist their comprehension, as modern readers do. Reading
(which for most ‘ordinary readers’ was hearing) took place in community. Aspects of the
text that were not obvious could be explained by teachers who had some training in
scriptural exegesis and who may have given time and trouble to studying the text”.
Richard Bauckham, The Testimony of the Beloved Disciple: Narrative, History, and
Theology in the Gospel of John (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2007), 284.
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