Exercises: Paul’s Practices of Reading and Writing for Social Transformation

Abstract

This chapter examines the ethical import of the exercises of reading and writing. It proposes that Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians is engaged in practices that form relationships and cares, rather than being focused on formulating codes and doctrines. It is more of a love letter than a treatise on love. Paul’s call for prophetic teaching, which cultivates new life, is different from exercises of informational pedagogy. Paul’s pedagogy seeks to re-educate and transform through social experiments that are situationally adaptive. Likewise, philosophical theology can offer resources for the ecological crisis can engage in a bottom-up process of exercises that shape responsive and sustainable ways of life.