The social construction of Paul’s apostolic leadership in Corinth

Jack Barentsen

doi:10.4102/hts.v74i4.5191

Abstract

In a climate of institutional change and loss of authority, it is urgently needed to rethink the legitimacy of religious authority. This article offers a case study of Paul’s authority claims in Corinth, using French & Raven’s theory of social power, to offer new insights into the construction of religious leadership. Paul negotiated renewed acceptance as Corinth’s founder and apostle by appealing to legitimate power that he was a better leader than Moses, even Christ’s ambassador, and by undermining the legitimate power of his opponents who claimed Jewish descent and apostolic miracles as key leadership markers. Similarly, Paul appealed to referent power by portraying his suffering as a mark of Christ-embodying leadership and undermined the referent power of his opponents by denouncing status, patronage support and rhetoric as legitimation for leadership. Paul did not appeal to other power bases (informational, expert, reward and coercion), because he could not be sure to outrank his opponents on those counts. This analysis suggests that religious authority in the form of Paul’s founding apostleship was difficult to comprehend and embed in the social and cultural structures of Corinth at that time. Paul needed to engage in intense contention and negotiation to construct a socially and culturally viable model of leadership that would do justice to his vision of Christian identity. As a corollary, the evidence of the intensity of this conflict at various levels throughout the epistle can be interpreted as supporting the literary unity of the epistle.

Highlights

Introduction and approachThe current climate of deinstitutionalisation and church decline significantly affects church leadership
The categorisation of specific elements of the letter as this or that social basis of power could be debated, overall, the results provide some valuable insights into Paul’s understanding of leadership and authority
It appears that Paul’s central authority claims relate primarily to legitimate and referent power. Four of his central authority claims fit in the category of legitimate power

Summary

Introduction and approach

The current climate of deinstitutionalisation and church decline significantly affects church leadership. No Corinthian leader of the right social and cultural mind would boast of such humiliating markings; this was foolish This rhetorical strategy reinforced the previous normative image of the suffering servant as self-sacrificial leader and presents unexpected physical evidence for Paul’s status as primordial servant of Christ in Corinth (11:23ff). Paul is forced to claim equality with the Twelve in order to be seen as superior to his opponents in Corinth (12:11–13) (Martin 1986:427–28), but he does not push this equality as a claim for his own apostolic authority in Corinth Instead, he downplays the marks of ‘true apostleship’ as basis for authority, and focuses instead on the presence of Christ’s power in his weaknesses and suffering, once again reiterating suffering and self-sacrificial leadership as primary legitimation of his apostolic leadership in Corinth, implicitly empowering lower social class Corinthian believers to play significant or even leadership roles within the community

Summary

Discussion

Conclusion and implications