Paul and the Corinthians: Leadership, Ordeals, and the Politics of Displacement

Jonathan B. Ensor revisits the scholarly consensus concerning Paul's intermediate visit to the Corinthians between his first and second epistles. Ensor re-evaluates the textual evidence, interpreting the event through a socio-historical lens that focuses upon ancient trial by ordeal and exit in the context of communal conflict, shedding significant light upon the social behaviours involved in this event and its interpretation.

Beginning with a review of relational and social-spacial dynamics...