James The Least

Continuing on with Thomas L. Brodie's appendices to his book "The Birthing of the New Testament," I wanted to touch on his major points about 1 Corinthians -- that, far from a topical, "autobiographical" letter based on current events, it is possibly just an imaginative rewrite of the Books of Daniel and Tobit. This argument consumes 10 pages of the book, so I cannot go into great detail, but I'll try to hit on a few major points. A few of these pages are available at the preview on Google Books, as are sections of the rest of the book.

Major themes in common between Daniel 1-6, 13 and 14 and 1 Corinthians 1-4 (Episodes of Contrast and Conflict: The Judgement of the World):
The opening contrast; abusive supper and new regime; the crisis of mystery and death; the crisis resolved by the spirit; statue, stone, and testing fire; grandeur and kingship, God's share; and order in the community.

To give a couple of examples:

The Crisis of Mystery and Death (Daniel 2:1-24 = 1 Corinthians 2:6-8, 10)
"None of the wise men of the Babylonian world can discover the mystery of the king's dream; but Daniel blesses the Lord as he receives special wisdom, a revelation of the depths of God (Dan 2:19-23). Paul proclaims essentially the same idea. In both writers the mystery is linked to glory; failure to discover the mystery is linked to a shameful death (Daniel 2:4-6: the king promises glorification if they know the mystery, but public death or impaling or hanging if they do not. 1 Corinthians 2:8, if they had known they would not have crucified the Lord of glory). Note use of deloo, "to make clear" (Dan 2:5 = 1 Cor 1:11) and logos (Dan 2:11 = 1 Cor 1:18)." [Brodie is using the Old Greek text of Daniel.]

The Crisis Resolved by the Spirit (Daniel 4:1-3, 5:7-14, ch. 13 = 1 Cor 2:10-16)
"On other occasions of Daniel's intervention, his powers of discernment and judgement are attributed to the spirit. Paul sums up these episodes: he speaks of contrasting spirits (2:12a) as the spirit in Daniel contrasts with the efforts of the Babylonian sages (Dan 4:1-6 in Hebrew, 4:4-9 in OG, see 1 Cor 2:12b); and he speaks of contrasting the ability to judge (1 Cor 2:14-16) partly echoing the story of Susanna (Dan. 13). Note specific words or roots: psyche, moria, anakrino, nous -- soul, foolish, judge, mind (1 Cor 2:16b = Sus 63)."

Major themes in common between between Daniel 7-12 and 1 Corinthians 14-15 (The Prophetic Visions of Building and Triumph):
Prophecy: the quest for interpretation; building the sanctuary; coping with sin; the triumph of one and all; and the secret.

Coping with Sin (Daniel 9 = 1 Cor 15:3b)
"Daniel 9 has two sections. In the first (9:1-19), a long expression of contrition, Daniel peruses 'in the books' or writings of Jeremiah and then prays in the name of the people and confesses 'our sins' (9:13, 16 OG). In the second (9:20-27), the angel Gabriel explains the scriptural text to show that this perversion of sin will come to an end (9:24) when a christed leader comes and when a christ is cut off or destroyed (christos, anointed, 9:25-26). Paul expresses the essence of these elements in a single sentence: 'Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.' Paul's indebtedness to Daniel at this point does not rule out other influences. Generally, Daniel supplies one component, not an entire formulation.

"...Paul's text concerning Christ dying for sin and concerning resurrection (1 Cor 15:3-4) has fused the climactic points of the third and fourth visions (Dan 9:24-26; 12:1), and has expressed that fusion in memorable parallel phrases."

The Triumph of One and All (Daniel 7, 10-12 = 1 Cor 15:15b-28)
"There is the process of witnessing to the apparition of the glorious man -- Daniel's witness to the gleaming figure of white and light (10:1-19), and Paul's witness to the glorious Christ (15:15b-19). Though both writers bear witness to a central glorious figure (Dan 10:1-6 = 1 Cor 15:15b), they also speak of how this figure affects themselves, lonely miserable men (Dan 10:9, 11, 19 = 1 Cor 15:19) who need purification (Dan 10:16 = 1 Cor 15:17), and who themselves go through a process of death and resurrection (Dan 10:7-10, 17-19 = 1 Cor 15:16, 18)."

Next, I'll touch on parallels between 1 Cor and Tobit.

James The Least

Continuing on with Brodie:

"Like Daniel, the book of Tobit provided one of several models for 1 Corinthians...the Greek version designated 'S'...is the version that seems cloest to 1 Corinthians. Tobit is indebted to Deuteronomy, so that, in the epistle, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between the influence of Tobit and Deuteronomy.

"In Tobit and 1 Corinthians, the prevalence of death is interpreted in the light of the hidden plan of the God of glory."

The main correlations are:
The cross and the plan; journey and body/marriage; the daily death; death to life: a new creation; generous journeying; the universal house.

I'll touch on a couple of these here.

"The central section of Tobit -- roughly ch. 5-10, dealing with the journey and marriage of young Tobias -- fits largely into the center of 1 Corinthians (roughly ch. 5-7)."

a. The Fatherly Sending of Tobias and Timothy (Tobit 4:19-5:9 = 1 Cor 4:15-17)
b. Recognitions, Greetings, Kisses, and Hand-Signatures (Tobit 5:3; 5:9-6:1; 7:1-9 = 1 Cor 16:18b-21) "In particular, the picture of the couple, Aquila and Prisca, appears to be modeled partly on Raguel and Edna."
c. Bodily union: abuses and uses (Tobit 6 = 1 Cor 6:12b-17)
"In both writers, the pervading idea is union...both writers give contrasting examples of union without heart or spirit."
d. Marriage (Tobit 7:9-8:21 = 1 Cor 7:1-3)
"Tobit seems to account for some of the epistle's ideas on marriage: the power to give in marriage, coming together after prayers, despite Satan (Tobit 7:15-8:4; 8:9 = 1 Cor 7:5), the saving process in marriage, a marriage that is to last."
e. Reckoning the Time (Tobit 9:1-10 = 1 Cor 7:29-31)

"The next section (11-12) deals in effect with the re-creation of blind Tobit. Paul uses it to describe the resurrection of the body, the new creation of humanity (1 Cor 15:35-38)."

"The dramatic return ("Behold your son and the man" Tobit 11:6) and the disclosure of the mystery (Tobit 12:6-8) are paralleled by Paul's "Behold I tell you a mystery" (1 Cor 15:51). Both texts also speak of sin (Tobit 12:10 = 1 Cor 15:56), thanksgiving, rescue from death, and the value of generous effort.

"I am...sent...not I, but the grace of God...by the will of God" (Tobit 12:15-18 = 1 Cor 1:1; 15:9-10)."

"Paul's description of his mission is almost an exact reproduction of Raphael's."

"Tobit looks to a time of fullness (pleroo, 14:5), when all the nations join with Israel to build the house of the Lord, and when young Tobias went to live with Raguel his father-in-law, 'he took possession of the house of Raguel and Tobit his father.' Paul depicts a fraternal union of Asia and Achaia and of the houses (Stephen's, Aquila's) in these diverse parts. The coming of Stephanas means a filling up of what the Corinthians lack (pleroo, 1 Cor 16:17b). Tobit speaks of Ahikar and Cyaxares, Achikaros and Achiacharos; Paul refers to Achaias and Achaikos."

"Details are often obscure or debatable, but the overall impression -- taking Tobit as a whole -- is that it has indeed provided a significant component for 1 Corinthians."

Again, I've only listed a few of the parallels; Brodie develops many more in his book, but this is enough to give an idea of the thrust of his argument.

I welcome ideas and feedback to Brodie's hypotheses. Trite dismissals of the "that's impossible Paul's epistles must be autobiographical!" variety will be ignored.

James The Least

Also note, Brodie's source for the Daniel quotes are the Old Greek text, and his source for the Tobit quotes are from the Greek "S" version, so standard texts like the NRSV will vary.

outhouse

Do you personaly think that paul could have been influenced by these passages when he was writing his epistles, since he is stating he is a jew of jews??

Vorkosigan

I MUST get this book.

Vorkosigan

James The Least

I think Brodie is alleging deliberate rewrites of OT themes in the context of Paul's supposed experiences and original ideas -- not just influence. We already know Paul is heavily influenced by the OT. Brodie is alleging something closer to the midrashic use of the OT in the gospels, except, instead of being used to construct Jesus's biography, they are used to construct Paul's autobiography.

James The Least

You may want to read some of the previews that are available for free online before taking the plunge. The vast majority of the book is consumed by Brodie's thesis that there was no "Q," just rewrites of OT material. So the gospels take up 90% of the book. But the parts that really jumped out at me were the ones on the epistles. Brodie himself apologizes for not developing this more, as he only spends about 50 pages out of 600 on the intertextuality I've been discussing here. I hope other scholars look into it.