is the work of Gupta, who argues for a series of interpretative principles to allow for richer interaction with metaphorical language. These principles involve identifying metaphors, then interpreting them according to five principles: exposure (whether author and reader share a common field of knowledge), analogy (is similar usage found elsewhere, in the same general historical context?), contextual coherence (establishing the metaphor within its literary context), history of interpretation, and intertextual influence.138 In dealing with metaphors in this study, I will be concerned with the issues Gupta summarizes, although I will not be formally adopting any particular methodology. Rather, I will be seeking to recognize that which is common to all approaches: attention to what is being done in metaphorical language, and attention to how that operates in context.139
Conclusion
The purpose of this introductory chapter has been to define ecclesial solidarity, to show why interchurch solidarity is worthy of particular attention, to outline my approach to the Pauline corpus, and to deal with a number of methodological issues. In doing this, I have also highlighted the need to examine more fully how ἐκκλησία should be understood, and therefore chapter 2 will be devoted to this. In chapters 3 to 6, I will examine Paul’s letters in five roughly chronological sections, as explained and justified above. In chapter 7, I will return to some of the issues raised in this chapter regarding authorship, as well as indicating what can be said from the Pauline corpus about ecclesial solidarity.
1. Ogereau, “Jerusalem Collection as Κοινωνία,” 360–78.
2. Horrell, Solidarity and Difference, 2.
3. See for example Gehring, House Church, 130–55; Linton, “House Church Meetings,” 233–34. For a somewhat contrary view, see De Vos, Church and Community Conflicts, 250–61.
4. See for example Adams, Earliest Christian Meeting Places, 201–2.
5. For a discussion of the relationship between house church in the NT and house churches today, see Gehring, House Church, 300–11.
6. Gehring, House Church, 155.
7. Trebilco, Self-designations, 178.
8. Knox, Sent By Jesus, 55.
9. Knox, Sent By Jesus, 59–60.
10. Knox, Sent By Jesus, 64.
11. Robinson, Selected Works, 222.
12. O’Brien, “Church,” 92.
13. Banks, Paul’s Idea of Community, 30.
14. O’Brien, “Church,” 116. Emphasis original.
15. Knox, Sent by Jesus, 64.
16. Robinson, Selected Works, 249.
17. Bultmann, Theology of the New Testament, 93.
18. Bultmann, Theology of the New Testament, 36–37.
19. Guthrie, New Testament Theology, 743. See also Schnelle, Apostle Paul, 560–61.
20. Guthrie, New Testament Theology, 743.
21. Guthrie, New Testament Theology, 744.
22. Bultmann, Theology of the New Testament, 94–108.
23. Schnelle, Apostle Paul, 561.
24. Samra, Being Conformed. As an example of this, see 136–52 on 1 Corinthians.
25. Hellerman, When the Church, 144–204. See Banks, Paul’s Idea, 88–117; Guthrie, New Testament Theology, 742–78; Schnelle, Apostle Paul, 566–73. A discussion of the sacraments is often considered important here: Bultmann, Theology of the New Testament, 311–14.
26. See also Roetzel, Judgement in the Community, 109–76; Schnackenburg, Church in the New Testament, 118–40.
27. See for example Clarke, Serve the Community; Clarke, Secular and Christian; Clarke, Pauline Theology.
28. See for example Chow, Patronage and Power.
29. See for example Ascough, What Are They Saying.
30. Banks, Paul’s Idea, 2. See also De Vos, Church and Community Conflicts.
31. For example, Bultmann, Theology of the New Testament, 308–10.
32. MacDonald, Pauline Churches, 2.
33. MacDonald, Pauline Churches, 29, and generally. For a similar approach to the Pauline corpus, see Dunn, “Body of Christ,” 146–62
34. MacDonald, Pauline Churches, 121–22.
35. MacDonald, Pauline Churches, 138.
36. MacDonald, Pauline Churches, 146, 156.
37. Schnelle, Apostle Paul, 563–64; Best, One Body, 83–159; Schnackenburg, Church in the New Testament, 83–85; O’Brien,
