Bodily Resurrection and Ethics in 1 Cor 15

Connecting Faith and Morality in the Context of Greco-Roman Mythology

by Paul J. Brown

Book cover: Bodily Resurrection and Ethics in 1 Cor 15

Extent: 312 pages

Publisher: Mohr Siebeck

Subjects: Biblical Studies, Religious Studies

Series: Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 2.Reihe

Series volume number: 360

Language: English

Paperback (Published)

(January 2014)

ISBN: 9783161530388

6.06 x 9.06 inches

Price: $130.00

Out of stock

New Testament scholars have long recognized a relationship between the future resurrection and ethics. Paul J. Brown contributes to this ongoing discussion by tracing Paul’s logic for connecting the moral imperatives in 1 Cor 15 to the bodily resurrection. The author examines the afterlife belief system of the resurrection-deniers and proposes that their eschatology was informed by Greco-Roman mythology. This enabled the Corinthians to embrace the bodily resurrection of Jesus as a hero and reject the prospect of their own. Brown suggests that Paul strategically leveraged their Greco-Roman thinking in his discussion of the resurrection to argue that their in-Christ status made them partakers of the Messiah’s beatific afterlife, and that the Greco-Roman practice of patron emulation should motivate them to live in imitation of the heavenly man.


New Testament scholars have long recognized a relationship between the future resurrection and ethics. Paul J. Brown contributes to this ongoing discussion by tracing Paul’s logic for connecting the moral imperatives in 1 Cor 15 to the bodily resurrection. The author examines the afterlife belief system of the resurrection-deniers and proposes that their eschatology was informed by Greco-Roman mythology. This enabled the Corinthians to embrace the bodily resurrection of Jesus as a hero and reject the prospect of their own. Brown suggests that Paul strategically leveraged their Greco-Roman thinking in his discussion of the resurrection to argue that their in-Christ status made them partakers of the Messiah’s beatific afterlife, and that the Greco-Roman practice of patron emulation should motivate them to live in imitation of the heavenly man.

  • By (author) Paul J Brown

"...Brown has produced a worthy contribution to scholarship on the letter, which should be consulted by those working on 1 Cor 15, Paul's eschatology, and Paul's ethics." --Matthew R. Malcolm, Review of Biblical Literature, 8.25.2015