Salvific Intentionality in 1 Corinthians
There are few matters more important than God'apos;s mission in the world. This book offers a fresh contribution to a long-standing debate in Pauline and missional studies regarding the apparent absence of a missionary mandate for the churches of the New Testament. Through a literary and socio-rhetorical study of 1 Corinthians, and in conversation with the emerging discipline of social identity theory, this book invites the reader to consider how Paul'apos;s missional expectations may have been received'nbsp;and put into practice in first-century Corinth by the first readers. Along the way some new lines of inquiry are opened for certain texts which have remained for a long time in a state of scholarly stalemate. But these technical discussions give way to a larger goal: to offer a missiology in action, in all its Corinthian complexity. Could such an approach inform a robust missional identity for the church of today? As the Western church searches for a new self-understanding in an increasingly post-Christian culture, the intention of this book is to cultivate the missional imagination of contemporary believers for their ongoing participation in God'apos;s mission in the world.