A one-sided conversation

One of the problems in reading a lot of the New Testament letters, and particularly 1 Corinthians, is we're only getting one side of the discussion. It's like overhearing someone on a phone call, and you need to supply as best guess the other side of the conversation. Trying to work out the other half of the conversation works best when the side you are hearing is arguing for something (e.g. against circumcision), rather than general statements (give thanks).

This entire process is fraught with difficulties.

As our New Testament lecturer Brian Rosner noted in class,

"It's all kind of speculative. If you don't like it, you call it speculation. If you do, it's called historical reconstruction."