«In Christ All Will Be Made Alive» (1 Cor 15:12-58): The Role of Old Testament Quotations in the Pauline Argumentation for the Resurrection (European ... Philosophy and History of Religions)

In his argumentation defending the resurrection of the dead, Paul reaches for the Old Testament. In this book the author discusses six Old Testament citations in 1 Cor 15:12-58. The analysis is based on three steps: identifying the source of a quotation, considering the phrase quoted in its direct OT context, and discussing its importance in various parts of 1 Cor 15:12-58. It should be noted that Paul changes the quotes for rhetorical purposes and also changes the context of the quoted fragments. It seems surprising that five of the quotations in the original context definitely do not speak about resurrection, and when exegetes today argue in support of resurrection, they reach for texts different from those that Paul chose in order to justify the hope for the rising of the dead.