A Week in the Life of Corinth (A Week In The Life Series)

Dr. Witherington presents not only general overview of life in Corinth in the first century, but he also addresses background of particular passages in the latter to the church of Corinth. Here are a few examples. 1) 1 Cor. 11:20-22, 33-34: A few times the author discusses how people ate at that time (see pp. 69, 72, where the quote from Epicurus is used, which also can be found in 1 Cor. 15:32). The author describes a man by the name Gallio in the following way: """"his belly heavy with food, his head fuzzy from too much wine. . . """" (p. 72). If that was a custom for people in Corinth, we should not be surprised why Corinthians had problems during the Lord's supper. 2) I was discouraged by reading that the Lord's Supper was served to the two unbelievers, Nicanor and Krackus, even in Paul's presence (pp. 146-147). Reading Paul's instructions in 1 Cor. 11 suggests that, in my opinion, Paul will never permit such thing to happen. 3) On page 121 Witherington explains how people thought about afterlife. These ideas were completely different from the teaching in 1 Cor. 15. Knowing this we can better understand the challenge of resurrection, knowing ancient beliefs concerning it. In a nutshell,""""A week in the life of Corinth"""" is an interesting book in the unusual manner (by means of a novel genre) teaching the cultural and social background of the ancient Corinth, however some things could be improved and presented more accurately. The font is quite easy to read. Recommended…