Modern Believing

Abstract

Paul grounds his first letter to the Corinthians on a theological paradox: ‘God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom’. I examine the two separate terms of this dichotomy – ‘the wisdom of the world’ and ‘the foolishness of the cross’ – in order to determine, in their relationship, the radical sociopolitical potential of Paul’s Corinthian church collective. I conclude that the ‘foolishness of the cross’ (death of God) in 1 Corinthians 1.18–2.5 functions to destabilise the ‘wisdom of the world’ (Symbolic Order).