The Wise within: Exploring the Foolish–Wise Vocabulary in the Pauline Tradition

Abstract

This paper highlights a peculiarity of Paul’s attitude towards his opponents in I Corinthians: the accusation of behaving like wise men ‘ἐν τῷ αἰῶνι τούτῳ’ (I Cor 3. 18). The emphasis on the element of praxis in I Corinthians, in which the Corinthians are accused of contamination with Hellenistic philosophy, has been compared with the Judaic text of Wisdom (Ws 2. 1-12), in which the portrait of the ‘ἀσεβεῖς’ (Ws 1. 16) displays several features typically associated with common imagery about philosophers. It will be stressed, thus, the gap between Paul’s depiction of his adversaries as emulating Hellenistic philosophical practices and an actual Corinthian praxis, based upon the performance of a realized eschatology.