I've been reading Kenneth Bailey's Paul Through Mediterranean Eyes: Cultural Studies in 1 Corinthians. I thought it would be an interesting Middle Eastern perspective on 1 Cor and there are helpful comments on the way. What I've discovered is that it is a very rigorous structural analysis of 1 Cor using chiasms or ring composition as he calls them. (It is not the only rhetorical device he observes.)
What is new to me is the argument that this type of structure comes from the Jewish prophets and not Hellenistic Greek. He has done an extensive structural analysis of Isaiah 40-66 which you can download here.
I've been reading through this Isaiah translation with a guy at church and finding it helpful. Actually it is especially helpful in reading the prophets because it explains the argument of otherwise confusing passages, and relatively simply. I'm trialing it with a few other people at church to see if it helps with the ease of reading the prophets.
Has anyone else used this?
1 comment:
Get into "progressive" chiasms next. Even better.
http://www.amazon.com/Bible-Matrix-Michael-Bull/dp/1449702635
All of Paul's letters follow a "Covenant-shaped" literary framework which can be traced back through the prophets and kings and Torah to Genesis 1.
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