Corinth at ASOR and SBL 2010

Corinth will make some appearances this week at back to back conferences in Atlanta, Georgia.  The American Schools of Oriental Research 2010 Annual Conference, which began yesterday evening and continues until Saturday, features a Corinth paper by Robert von Thaden in the Archaeology of the New Testament session called “Embodied Minds in Physical Space: ‘Coming Together’ in Paul’s Corinthian Community.”  The session is designed to “offer the opportunity to explore ways in which material culture studies can have a bearing on elucidating, analyzing and contextualizing New Testament images and themes and the transmission of New Testament texts.”

The enormous Society of Biblical Literature conference begins on Saturday and runs until Tuesday.  As usual, it features numerous papers exploring Paul’s letters to the Corinthians, the first Christian community there, and cultural and social contexts for understanding the letters.

This year includes two sessions devoted to “Second Corinthians: Pauline Theology in the Making,” with a focus this year on 2 Corinthians 4.  Papers in these sessions include:

B. J. Oropeza, Azusa Pacific University, Saved by Benefaction, Judged by Works? The Paradox of Rejecting Grace in 2 Corinthians

Ryan S. Schellenberg, University of St. Michael’s College, Beyond Rhetoric: Self-Praise in Plutarch, Paul, and Red Jacket

Hermut Loehr, University of Munster, Stone Tablets. Torah Traditions in 2Cor 3

James Buchanan Wallace, Christian Brothers University,  Paul’s Catalogues of Suffering in 2 Corinthians as Ascetic Performances

Christopher R. Bruno, Wheaton College, Carrying in the Body the Death of Jesus: The Passion Narratives as Paul’s Model for his Apostolic Self-Understanding in 2 Corinthians

Robin Griffith-Jones, King’s College London / Temple Church, ‘We’, ‘You’, ‘All’: Respecting Paul’s Distinctions in 2 Corinthians 1-5

Timothy Luckritz Marquis, Moravian Theological Seminary, Apostolic Travels as ‘Carrying around the Death of Jesus’ in 2 Corinthians 4:10

Ma. Marilou S. Ibita, Catholic University of Leuven-Belgium, Episteusa dio elalesa (2 Cor 4:13): Paul and the Psalmist

There are, of course, many other papers scatted about the various sessions devoted to the literary and cultural contexts of 1 and 2 Corinthians:

J. Brian Tucker, Moody Theological Seminary, The Concept of Social Identity in Corinth: Wisdom, Power, and Transformation

Judith H. Newman, University of Toronto, Covenant Rupture, Restoration, and Transformation in the Performance of 2 Corinthians and the Hodayot

Edward Adams, King’s College London, “Things that are” and “things that are not:” Cosmological Rhetoric in 1 Corinthians 1:27-29

Richard A. Wright, Oklahoma Christian University, Paul on Praying and Prophesying: Sacrifice and the Ritual Construction of Gendered Roles in Corinth

Robert von Thaden, Jr., Mercyhurst College, Fleeing Sin: Embodied Conceptual Blends in 1 Corinthians

James Ware, University of Evansville, Paul’s Gospel of the Empty Tomb: The Resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15

Jae Hyung Cho, Claremont Graduate University, Paul’s Opponent in 1 and 2 Corinthians in light of Gnostic Ideas

John Goodrich, Moody Bible Institute, Compelled to Preach: Retaining Paul’s Apostolic Right in 1 Corinthians 9.17

Kevin Scull, University of California-Los Angeles, Paul’s Use of Self-Presentation as a Defense of His Oratorical Abilities in 1 Corinthians 1:10-4:21

Bradley J. Bitner, Macquarie University, Colonial and Ecclesial Construction in Roman Corinth: 1 Cor. 3:5-4:5 and Inscriptional Evidence

Katy Valentine, Graduate Theological Union, Negotiated Values for Paul and the Corinthians

Jeremy Punt, University of Stellenbosch, 1 Cor 7:17-24. Identity and human dignity amidst power and liminality

Other papers related to Corinth and Kenchreai include:

David Balch, Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, Women Prophets/Maenads Visually Represented in Two Roman Colonies: Pompeii and Corinth

Cavan Concannon, Harvard University will speak on the Ethnicity, Economics, and Diplomacy in Dionysios of Corinth.

James Buchanan Wallace, Christian Brothers University, A Sufficient Grace: 2 Corinthians 11:21-12:10 in the Eastern Orthodox Liturgical Tradition

Jorunn Økland, University of Oslo, The Ritual Reproduction of Space: Egyptian Cults and the Nile in Pompeii and Kenchreai

Ilaria L.E. Ramelli, Catholic University of Milan, Tit 2:2-4, Women Presbyters, and a Patristic Interpretation

Abstracts for most of these papers can be found online at Society of Biblical Literature conference.