It’s
an unusual idea for a Christian academic book – use the form of the novella to tell
a story. That’s what Ben Witherington, American New Testament Scholar at Asbury
Theological Seminary, did with A
Week in the Life of Cornith. He wrote a novella, and made life in Corinth
at the time of St. Paul come alive.
Corinth
is one of the “cities of St. Paul,” and one where the apostle lived for an
extended period. In Witherington’s story, St. Paul is a character, but not the
major character. That title belongs to Nicanor, a freedman, who is establishing
his various business activities, making alliances, developing contacts and
networks. He’s a former tutor in the family of Erastos, a wealthy landowner who
has come to follow the new religion called Christianity. (Erastus – with a u – and Nicanor are two names belonging
to two of the original seven deacons appointed by the early church in
Jerusalem; they served with the more well known Stephen.)
Wrapped
all around the story are sidebars about aspects of life in Corinth and the
Roman Empire. They include factual information of gladiators and gladiatorial schools,
slavery, Corinth’s destruction and rebirth as a Roman colony, Paul’s physical
appearance, how patronage functioned in Roman society, the role of money and
bartering, the education of children, the Roman baths, food establishments, and
many other subjects. Also included are photographs, city maps and diagrams of
Roman homes, villas and other structures.
All
of this factual information supplements how Witherington integrates historical
understanding into a fictional narrative. And it works, and works well.
While
not the main character, St. Paul is a character, living with a couple from Rome
(the Prisca or Priscilla and Aquila of the Bible) and working as a tentmaker to
support himself. He is facing a trial before the proconsul Gallio (a real
person and a brother of Seneca the Younger, the Roman philosopher and statesman).
And he will also play a critical role in the lives of both Erastos and Nicanor.
What
A Week in the Life of Corinth does is to make Roman history and early Christian
history approachable and understandable. It also gives history the sense of
immediacy, that the reader is right there with the characters, both fictional
and real, whether it’s the smell of the streets in the Corinth slums or the
gluttony of a rich men’s banquet.
It’s
life as St. Paul and the early Christians experienced it.
