Paul’s letters to the Corinthians have become points of controversy. Many of the issues stem from a lack of proper understanding of why Paul was writing these letters and the cultural context of the audience in Corinth. In order to establish who the audience was and their cultural background, Rico Cortes will discuss the historical, archaeological, geographical, and anthropological perspectives as well as the religious systems of Corinth. This 2 hour teaching serves as an introduction and a foundation to future studies on the letters to the Corinthians. Some of the areas that will be covered are the geographical importance of the city, the gods of the city and how they were worshipped, the caste system, imperial cult, honor and shame, patronage, temple prostitution, table fellowship, and the history of the city of Corinth leading up to the time of Paul’s letter. All of these aspects are needed to shed light into the text for proper understanding of what issues Paul was actually addressing in his letters.
This teaching is approximately 2 hours in length.