ABSTRACT
The study examined Paul’s appeal for unity (1 Corinthians 1:10-17). The aim of the study was to apply Paul’s appeal for unity to the currenmt divisions in the Anglican Communion with the view to bringing the Anglican Communion back to unity. An analytical and exegetical study of the target text and other relevant passages in the Corinthian correspondence were conducted to ascertain the root and immediate causes of the Corinthian dissensions; its spread and nature; its negative effects on the Corinthian Church; Paul’s style and approach for resolving it; justify the effectiveness of Paul’s style and approach; and its implications for the current divisions in the Anglican Communion.
The study deployed a multidimensional methodological approach. The Socio-Rhetorical analysis explored the inner dynamics of the target text and its relationship to other texts outside it. The historical-grammatical approach examined the syntax, metaphors and rhetoric of the target text. Folklorization (the use of non-Biblical African materials for the interpretation of biblical texts) formed the African approach. Paul’s appeal for unity in the text based on commonalities was deployed to discuss some biblical commonalities and the Anglican Church commonalities.
The findings among others are the root causes (competitiveness, socio-economic inequality), the immediate causes (sexual immorality, eating of meat offered to idols); the Corinthian Church dissensions were widespread characterized by mimetic rivalry, allegiance to teachers; its negative effects included use of eloquence for proclamation, ethical/moral relativism. Paul deployed appeal to commonalities (brothers and sisters, the Lord Jesus Christ (personal examples, church discipline for the resolution of the Corinthian dissensions. The triumphal letter and the joyful conclusion of the Corinthian correspondence justified the effectiveness of Paul’s style and approach. The implications for the Anglican Church are Paul’s church leadership, discipline, Biblical inerrancy.
