To Know All Mysteries

The Mystagogue Figure in Classical Antiquity and in Saint Paul’s Letters to the Corinthians

C. Andrew Ballard

• Publisher: Fortress Academic
• Year: 2022
• eBook ISBN: 9781978784222
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Ancient History

This book examines the way that Paul presents himself as a guide into mysteries, a "mystagogue," in 1–2 Corinthians. By describing himself as a type of mystagogue for the community, Paul was following a precedent in both Jewish and non-Jewish sources for invoking mystagogic language to engage in polemics with a rival. In opposition to the precedent, however, Paul understands the mystagogue to be a bi-partite figure—comprised of both foolishness and wisdom simultaneously. C. Andrew Ballard argues that ancient mystagogues were often described in two disparate ways: figures of power, and figures of weakness and foolishness. Paul synthesizes both aspects of the mystagogue in his self-presentation to the Corinthians. The figure of the mystagogue, as a wise-fool, was useful to Paul because it was descriptive not only of his own experience as a suffering yet authoritative apostle, but also of the experience of his deity, the suffering and glorified Christ. By presenting himself as both a powerful and foolish mystagogue, Paul could argue that he was a more authentic imitator of Christ than his opponents in Corinth, who boasted in self-exaltation instead of self-humility. In this way, Paul used the character of the mystagogue as a strategic rhetorical tool in his communication with the Corinthians.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: Defining Mystagogues in the Mystery Cults of Antiquity
• Chapter 3: Initiation into Philosophy and Truth, Part I: Metaphorical Mystagogues in Classical, Hellenistic, and Early Imperial Literature
• Chapter 4: Initiation into Philosophy and Truth, Part II: Metaphorical Mystagogues in Jewish Literature of the Hellenistic and Early Imperial Periods
• Chapter 5: The Duality of the Mystagogue: Power and Foolishness
• Chapter 6: Initiating Paul, Part I: The Appropriation and Disruption of the Mystagogue in 1 Corinthians
• Chapter 7: Initiating Paul, Part II: The Appropriation and Disruption of the Mystagogue in 2 Corinthians
• Bibliography
• Index
• About the Author