8/8/2019 BookReview_CorinthiaWP_1

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The Corinthian Women Prophets: A Reconstruction through Paul's Rhetoric. By Antoinette WireClark. (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1995). Pp. v+316. Paperback, $19.95

Contributing a historical imagination to previous exegesis of 1 Corinthians, Wire asserts areconstruction of the social and theological behaviors of a group of Corinthian women who

appear to have been recognized as prophetic Christian leaders. This intricately woven tapestrybased off a close criticism of Pauls rhetoric in his first epistle to the Corinthian church attemptsto create an image of Pauls audience from his arguments. Closely analyzing the entire text of 1Corinthians, Wire elucidates a clear witness to the identity and message of these women prophetsfrom broadly addressed rhetorical remarks.

Introducing her aim, method and procedure for recovering the identity of Corinthsprophetic women in her first chapter, Wire proceeds to systematically lay out thematicreconstructions from the rhetorical content of 1 Corinthians. Drawing an outline of Paulsrhetoric chapter two, Wire defines the many ways by which Pauls general message to theCorinthians subtly implicates the behavior of those women who identify as prophets. In the thirdchapter, derived from 1 Cor 1-4, Wire descriptively pictures how Paul attempts to corral the

freedom the women prophets have found in Christ, addressing their claims to wisdom, elevatedstatuses, and leadership roles in the church of Corinth. From 1 Cor 5-7, Wires fourth chapteremphasizes how Pauls reprimanding of male immorality uses language which implies anattempt to curb the radical sexual abstinence of the women prophets by placing on them theburden of relieving communal impurity. In chapter five, Wire explicates how Paul introducesconcerns of communal idolatry in 1 Cor 8-11 from behaviors of eating and sexual abstinence outof devotion for God likely practiced by the women prophets in Corinth. Taking time to especiallyaddress 1 Cor 11.2-6, Wire offers her own interpretation of why Paul commands women to covertheir heads when publicly praying or prophesying as connected to the issue of communalidolatry, deriving from previous statements concerning female responsibility to help preventmale sin. In chapter seven, Wire uses Pauls remarks to the Spiritual persons in Corinth from 1Cor 12-14 to piece together the womens prophets claims of authority as derived from the Spiritof God. Wrapping up her detailed exegesis in chapter eight, Wire describes a conflict betweenPauline theology of resurrection and the experience of Christs resurrection as interpreted by thewomen prophets in 1 Cor 15-16. In a final chapter, Wire summarizes her own work bycomparing her hypotheses about the womens changed social statuses due to their new propheticroles through Mary Dalys Group/Grid analysis, concluding with a brief postscript on her workas a mere beginning to uncovering the identities of the Corinthian women prophets.

Including twelve informative hypotheses, several thorough indexes for reference, alongwith an additional section of selected ancient text exemplifying women in prophetic roles, Wiresscholarly audience if provided with valuable means to unpack her analysis. Wires clearpresentation helps a non-academic reader comprehend her complex, but accomplished, goal ofreviving the lost persons of the Corinthian women prophets, though not without a thoroughreading. Wire maximizes every word, consolidating the meat of this intense contribution to under200 pages, enlightening not only the personages of the women prophets in Corinth, but alsoshedding light on the individualistic style by which the apostle Paul communicated theology tohis churches. The depth and intricacy of Wires analysis offers valuable insight into sociologicalconsequences of the early Jesus movement, providing inspirational models of faith for men andwomen today from the self-understandings as Christ followers of the Corinthian WomenProphets.

Hannah M. MecaskeyDominican School of Philosophy and Theology, Berkeley, CA