Origins of the Corinthian Christ Group

Stephen P. Ahearne-Kroll is the Sundet Family Chair in New Testament and Christian Studies at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN USA. He is the editor of The Oxford Handbook of the Synoptic Gospels (Oxford University Press, 2023), author of the commentary on Mark in The Jerome Biblical Commentary for the Twenty-First Century (Bloomsbury Academic, 2022); coeditor with Paul A. Holloway and James A. Kelhoffer, of Women and Gender in Ancient Religion (Mohr Siebeck, 2010); and author of The Psalms of Lament in Mark’s Gospel (Cambridge University Press, 2007). He has written on the role of memory in Asklepios sanctuaries and widely on the Gospel of Mark.

The question is deceptively simple: When Paul came to Corinth introducing a new triad of divine beings—the god of Israel, his son Christ and the pneuma—how might the locals have understood this? Dismissing anachronistic notions of monotheism, Ahearne-Kroll offers a compelling new answer solidly grounded in ancient evidence.

• List of IllustrationsPreface and Acknowledgements1. Introduction: Ancient Religion, Social Theory and Methodology2. Chords of Gods Around the Mediterranean3. Chords of Gods in Corinth4. The Pneuma in Corinth5. Genealogy, History, Mythology and Cult of Paul’s God(s)6. Reimagining the Early Day’s of Paul’s Corinthians7. Conclusion: A Chord of Gods as a ‘Tool for Rupture’AppendixBibliographyIndex