Malakoi (Effeminates) and Avrsenokoitai (Homosexuals): A Reflection on 1 Corinthians 6:9 from a Ghanaian (Akan) Perspective

Homosexuality and the rights of LGBTQ+ people have in recent times become one of the most discussed topics. In Ghana especially, there are massive debates, comments and advocacy of various kinds on the print, mass and electronic media on the subject. Politicians, religious leaders, among others have had to add their voice to the ongoing discussion as to whether or not to accept homosexuality. It appears the majority of Ghanaians are anti-gay and believe that the activities of homosexuals or LGBTQ+ people are unnatural and foreign to Ghanaian primal thought and thus are calling for proper human sexual rights and Ghanaian family values. This paper examines Paul’s use of malakoi (effeminates) and avrsenokoi/tai (homosexuals) in 1 Corinthians 6:9 from the perspective of the Ghanaian (Akan) culture. The researcher brings out Paul’s understanding and theology of malakoi and avrsenokoi/tai, and then engages these with the Akan understanding of homosexuality. This way, the Akan culture is factored into the interpretation of the selected Pauline passage as it forms the basis of the researcher’s theological reflection on the subject under discussion among the Akan. The researcher uses Kwame Bediako’s “scripture as the hermeneutic of culture and tradition” as an interpretive tool, to interpret the Akan philosophy on homosexuality and how that compares to Paul’s concept of homosexuality. This study serves as a contribution to knowledge as it brings new insights to the ongoing discussion throughout the world regarding the understanding of human sexuality especially from cultural and biblical perspectives. KEYWORDS: Effeminates, homosexuals, homosexuality, unrighteous, hermeneutic, culture.

Erratum: Doing theology with children: A childist reading of the childhood metaphor in 1 Corinthians and the Synoptic Gospels

No abstract available.

Konflik jemaat dan identitas sosial Shema dalam 1 Korintus 12

This article aims to read the echo of the Shema in 1 Corinthians 12. Using the Social Identity Theory shows that the apostle Paul echoes the Shema when utilizing the oneness language in 1 Corinthians 12. The theory also demonstrates that the Shema has social functions in 1 Corinthians 12. The article concludes that reading the echo of the Shema 1 Corinthians in light of the Social Identity Theory contributes to understanding conflict resolution in the Corinthian church.AbstrakArtikel ini bertujuan membaca gema terhadap Shema dalam 1 Korintus 12. Dengan menggunakan pendekatan Teori Identitas Sosial, kajian ini mengha-silkan bukti bahwa Rasul Paulus memang menggemakan Shema ketika meng-gunakan bahasa keesaan dalam 1 Korintus 12. Melalui Teori Identitas Sosial, di-tunjukkan bahwa rujukan terhadap Shema tersebut memiliki fungsi sosial di 1 Korintus 12. Kesimpulannya, pembacaan terhadap gema Shema dalam 1 Ko-rintus 12 dengan Teori Identitas Sosial memberikan kontribusi bagi pemahaman terhadap penyelesaian konflik yang dihadapi jemaat di Korintus

Re-Picturing the Reception of the Spirit with Ritual Experience: The Role of Baptism in 1 Corinthians 12:13

In this article, I argue that the ritual experience of water-baptism plays an essential role in Paul's metaphorical expression and rhetorical purpose in 1 Corinthians 12:13. To explore the role of baptism, I use conceptual blending theory from cognitive linguistics to define and demonstrate the metaphorical ways in which ritual functions in the human mind. In so doing, I emphasize the performance of a ritual itself and the contextual perception of its performance, arguing for a metaphorical relationship between the two. I apply conceptual blending analysis to interpret the complex interplay of three metaphors in 1 Corinthians 12:13. I argue that Paul forms a conceptual blend of three metaphors in this verse, and that baptism, the water-rite, plays a pivotal role in this blend by providing the physical pattern of immersion and the cultural understanding of this immersion as a new belonging. Using baptism, Paul achieves his purpose of re-picturing the reception of the Spirit and appealing for social union. This verse thus presents an excellent case of the role of ritual in the emergence of early Christianity and the explanatory power of ritual studies to the New Testament texts.

Glorify God with Your Body: An Exegesis on 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 and Its Implication for the Christian Life during Pandemic Covid-19

<p class="abstracttextDILIGENTIA">In the current situation of life which is very difficult because of the pandemic Covid-19 and its consequences, the urgency for Christian to live holy is inevitable. The complexity and the problem of life were also evidence in 1^st Corinthians. However, the attempt to exegete the certain passage of 1^st Corinthians related to the current situation and considered the 1^st Corinthians text as an encouragement for Christians to glorify God with our body has not yet been enough. Thus, it is prominent to ask the question as how Christian should live in this live with their body? This article aims to exegete 1^st Corinthians 6:12-20 and demonstrate that this passage will in truly encourage every Christian to glorify God with their body in this difficult time. The first step is to translate the text directly from the Greek text. The second step is to demonstrate the structure and the exegesis of the text by analysing the grammar with its historical context. The third step which is parallel to the second step is to figure out the theological principles and their practical exhortation. The last step is the conclusion of this research and the application for the current life context. This research will employ the literature study by examine the commentary and journal articles which are relevant to the theme.</p>

Conversion, apostasy, or hybridity? The terrible, troubled, transformative experience of Paul as exemplar for missiology in an age of multiplicity

Scholars and practitioners alike celebrate the Apostle Paul as an exemplar of Christian mission. But few emphasize how the ministry and practices of the biblical author developed amid incredible intrareligious conflict and relational wreckage. Embroiled in tension over doctrinal and ritual changes, plagued by vitriolic attacks on his character, and caught up in a web of splintered relationships, Paul offers contemporary people of faith a lesson on unity in diversity for mission in an age of hybridity. Embracing the “terrible and troubled” experience of Paul enables us to bring into relief a transformative hermeneutical strategy for negotiating new forms of religious life and multiplicity in belonging. This article will show how competing cultural and religious codes shaped the Apostle’s symbolic universe, causing violence, tension, conflict, and rejection, before reconciling in an ethic of love in hybridity. After making a case for the reclamation of the troubled textual Pauline experience over an idealized picture of early Christian mission, I will argue for the critical importance of Paul’s Damascus Road experience by narratively resituating it from typological “conversion” story to mystical encounter with the Holy Other that catalyzed a new religious imagination for cultivating a revolutionary egalitarian, inclusive pattern of religious life. Then, I will use Paul’s narrative from Galatians and his treatment of holiness in 1 Corinthians to show how ruptures in the Apostle’s journey led him through fractures and failures into spiritual maturity. By welcoming the gendered, classed, and cultic other into fellowship, Paul also found his quintessential theological insights: the new creation and life in the Spirit. Paul’s response to the invitation of the risen Jesus and his record of the missional life that followed offers missiology a way through monocultural approaches and theological exclusivism into a constructive spirituality that unifies radically different factions into one holy, hybrid body.