Review By: Duane Liftin. Paul’s Theology of Preaching: The Apostle’s Challenge to the Art of Persuasion in Ancient Corinth. Downers Grove (Il): InterVarsity, 2015. 392 pp. ISBN 978-0830824717

Abstract

In recent years, interest in Greco-Roman rhetoric has been growing steadily among Pauline scholars. Dwayne Lifton, the author of the monograph under review, titled "The Theology of Paul’s Preaching: The Apostle’s Challenge to the Art of Persuasion in Ancient Corinth", is to some extent responsible for this trend. As stated in the introduction to this book, until the twentieth century, interpreters understood the “wisdom of the word” in 1 Corinthians 1:17 as a reference to Greco-Roman rhetoric and philosophy. Partly due to a growing interest in Gnosticism, during the first half of the twentieth century, “the wisdom of the word” was understood by many scholars in the light of Gnostic mythology. Under this approach, the opponents of the Apostle to the Gentiles were the “pneumatic Gnostics,” who downplayed the significance of the Cross of Christ. In this book, Liftein demonstrates that the earlier, more traditional perspective was correct. When the Apostle to the Gentiles describes his mission as preaching the Cross “not in the wisdom of the word,” he is referring to Greco-Roman rhetoric.