Between Imagination and Practice: Pauline Theology and Burying the Dead at Corinth

In his now classic work, The First Urban Christians, Wayne Meeks asserts that “we have no evidence about the funeral practices of Pauline Christians.” In 1 Corinthians the best evidence we possess, according to Meeks, is an “enigmatic reference to ‘baptism for the dead’” (1 Cor 15:29). Recent resear...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: O'Connor, M. John-Patrick (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Brill 2024
In: Novum Testamentum
Year: 2024, Volume: 66, Issue: 1, Pages: 58-79
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Paul Apostle / Meeks, Wayne A. 1932- / Funeral / Clothing / Metaphor / Bible. Corinthians 1. 15,29 / Bible. Corinthians 1. 15,53-55 / Bible. Corinthians 2. 5,1-5 / Bible. Thessalonicherbrief 1. 5,8
IxTheo Classification:HC New Testament
RC Liturgy
RG Pastoral care
Further subjects:B 1 Cor 15:53–54
B burial rituals
B clothing the dead
B 1 Cor 15:29
B 2 Cor 5:1–4
B Paul
B Metaphor
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Summary:In his now classic work, The First Urban Christians, Wayne Meeks asserts that “we have no evidence about the funeral practices of Pauline Christians.” In 1 Corinthians the best evidence we possess, according to Meeks, is an “enigmatic reference to ‘baptism for the dead’” (1 Cor 15:29). Recent research, however, has questioned Meeks’s disparaging conclusions about the evidence for Pauline Christian burial practices. The following article contributes to this discussion by examining Paul’s references to special garments and the afterlife (1 Thess 5:8; 1 Cor 15:53–54; 2 Cor 5:1–4). Later data indicates that eschatological clothing metaphors were taken literally in some early Jewish and Christian communities. Furthermore, developments in metaphor theory suggest that conceptual metaphors are often grounded in common experiences. This article contends that Paul’s metaphor for new garments at the resurrection may coincide with first-century funerary practices within Pauline communities.
ISSN:1568-5365
Contains:Enthalten in: Novum Testamentum
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1163/15685365-bja10053