The Second Letter to the Corinthians.By Mark A. Seifrid.

Abstract

M ark S eifrid , formerly Professor of New Testament Interpretation at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and now professor of exegetical theology at the Lutheran Concordia Seminary, writes for the Pillar series. Aimed at ‘serious pastors and teachers of the Bible’, this evangelical series focuses more on exegesis of ‘the text of Scripture as we have it’ than on contemporary scholarship or technical minutia (p. ix). Consequently, Seifrid does not attempt sweeping dialogue with scholarly literature. Instead, he focuses largely on the theology of 2 Corinthians, which, he repeatedly argues, accords with that of Martin Luther, by far his most frequent dialogue partner. Seifrid argues that the epistle’s main theme is ‘the jarring contrast between [Paul’s] powerful letters and his pitiful presence … the difference between what the eyes can see and what the ears can hear in the apostolic proclamation of the cross’, a message manifest also in Paul’s ‘body and life’ (p. xxxii). As such, Seifrid frequently argues that the epistle’s ultimate concern is hermeneutical—that is, ‘whether the human being has the capacity of recognizing, understanding, and judging the work of God within the world, or whether it is the work of God that recognizes and judges the human being’ (p. xxxiii).