Читать книгу 1 Corinthians - Luise Schottroff - Страница 10

Work on this book has led me on a journey of discovery into the life of a large Roman-Hellenistic city, Corinth. Paul was a tour guide into the history of the early Roman Empire. In his First Letter to Corinth it becomes evident how hard daily life in this city was, including for Paul himself. In the midst of this city a resistance community has come together, made up of Jews and those of other nations, a community that has, and lives from, a great vision. From the Torah they have learned this: Israel’s God wants all people and the whole world to experience fullness of life. Paul shares this community’s way with enthusiasm and passion. Through this letter Paul became a source of inspiration for me: it is possible, even under conditions such as those he faced, to construct a common life and to orient yourself daily on the vision of God’s justice for the whole world.

On this journey of discovery, I was accompanied by a group of faithful women companions, who shared with me curiosity about a different Paul and the surprise of unexpected discoveries. Without the continuous exegetical and spiritual dialogue that I carried on with Claudia Janssen, this book would not have come into being. Marlene Crüsemann accompanied the work from the beginning and developed new ideas about the Second Letter to Corinth that are fundamental for understanding 1 Corinthians and Paul as a whole. Finally, she took upon herself the laborious task of a full editorial reading. Ute Ochtendung gave the manuscript her thorough and competent attention. Her support and sound judgment again and again gave me the courage to carry on this work. I have the great joy of being able to work regularly with a group of five women colleagues on the further development of translations in the Bibel in gerechter Sprache. Dietlinde Jessen, Luise Metzler, Friederike Oertelt, Susanne Paul and Cathrin Szameit participated with me in the considerations that went into the translation of 1 Corinthians into German—from the details about how to translate individual words to the fundamental questions about the relevance of such texts for 21^st century congregations. Our common work was and is inspiring, encouraging and always enjoyable. During walks together in the Dönche [a large nature reserve in the city of Kassel, translator], I experienced many attempts to find clarity during the course of my work. Ariane Garlichs posed creative and challenging questions from the perspectives of pedagogy and psychoanalysis.

The members of the »Heidelberger Arbeitskreis für sozialgeschlichtliche Bibelauslegung« have constructively and critically discussed theses and first drafts. How necessary and constructive it is to understand the New Testament and Paul from the perspectives of the Old Testament and of the history of God’s dealings with Israel became more and more clear to me during these discussions.

Obtaining the literature I needed for this project lay principally in the hands of the team of the state church library in Kassel, especially in those of Mr. Thron. He tracked down mountains of new works, as well as rare and older titles. The work of the whole team was a great source of support for me. Benjamin Porps brought me, even in the snow and on icy streets, big bicycle bags full of books. I could rely on his bibliographic competence. My heartfelt thanks go to the women and men at Kohlhammer Verlag, especially Herr Florian Specker from the editorial office, who also produced the information about the illustrations.

From the bottom of my heart I thank all those who accompanied me on this journey. It was a wonderful time.