Commentary on 2 Corinthians

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Thomas Schmeller
• Subject Area: Roman Catholic Theology
• Term: from 2012 to 2017
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 231159360

There is no recent commentary on 2 Corinthians in German which is living up to scholarly standards. The aim of this project is to write the second volume of a commentary in the "Evangelisch-Katholischer Kommentar" series the first volume of which I have published in 2010. The specific profile of this series requires including the "Wirkungsgeschichte" (history of interpretations and other effects) of the biblical text. There is a lot of preparatory work to be done. The collaborator who is being applied for will be in charge of reconstructing the "Wirkungsgeschichte" not at random or in a comprehensive way but following two specific perspectives:1. How do church fathers judge the rhetoric of 2 Corinthians (ornatus, structure of argument, rhetorical genre)? Can we gain help from this in judging recent rhetorical text analyses?2. How do the theological concepts of power and weakness which play a prominent role in 2Cor 10-13 relate to each other in pre-reformatory interpretations? Which denominational patterns of interpretation have developed since the reformation?Besides a collaborator I am applying for a replacement which allows me to spend an additional sabbatical semester working at the second volume of my commentary. One of the six months applied for I will spend as a visiting scholar at Emory University, Georgia (USA). I have been in contact with this institution for many years. Scholarly discussions with colleagues and PhD-students there have already had essential impact on former research projects.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants