Death Dismantled: Reading Christological and Soteriological Language in 1 Corinthians 15 in Light of Roman Imperial Ideology

Abstract

This dissertation investigates the theopolitical background ofthe imagery Paul employs in 1 Corinthians 15, particularly in his proclamation of the story ofChrist's parousia and the defeat of Death. It suggests that the apostle appropriated many ofthe images that comprise this story from the ideology ofthe Roman Empire, and that the manner in which he co-opted them illustrates his critical response to that ideology. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul redeploys significant imperial titles (e.g., Kuptos), actions (~o:atAEUE1v), and events ( rro:povolex, viKfl) to frame the gospel narrative that connects Christ's resurrection, arrival and rule (15:20-28) to his final subjugation ofdeath (5058). Re-read in light ofthe images' meanings as prescribed by Rome and as re-appropriated by Paul, these passages reveal a clash of rival soteriological narratives: Paul's "master story," his gospel of salvation won through the resurrection ofhis crucified lord, contests the salvific claims of the imperial discourse, the "story of mastery" as dictated by Rome. The Pauline soteriology that emerges from this engagement can enrich postmodem understandings ofwhat it means to be "saved." The study opens with an assessment of the contemporary (mis)use ofPauline christological and soteriological terms, which seem obscure or arcane when unmoored from their original, sociopolitical milieux. This first chapter proposes that ifthese obscure images are understood as initially embedded in the context of Roman theopolitics, then their meanings should be reappraised in that setting and again as Paul redeploys them. This entails a repositioning ofthe study of the images, first with respect to the narrativalsoteriological relationships they imply (chapter two), then to previous assessments of the texts where Paul reassembles them (three). Chapter four develops a socio-rhetorical model of the hermeneutical obstacles to reading 1 Corinthians through first-century Corinthian eyes and ears, and then addresses the central theopolitical imagery in Rome's story. Chapter five's exegesis finds that the anticipated dismantling of every power, including Death, foregrounds the empire as Death's proximate ally. This and other findings resolve into an exegetically founded Pauline soteriology (chapter six) that calls postmodem theopolitical allegiances into question.