The Epistemological Crisis of the Cross

Part 2, Perception, Cross, and Apocalypse

Yesterday, we introduced the epistemological crisis of the cross by looking at 1 Corinthians 1, where the wisdom of the world is rendered foolish. But the epistemological and perceptual language in 1 Corinthians runs deep. 

One of the best treatments of the epistemological themes in 1 Corinthians is Alexandra Brown's The Cross and Human Transformation: Paul's Apocalyptic Word in 1 Corinthians. (Thank you to my friend Mark, for putting me onto Brown's book.) 

Here is Brown describing what Paul is up to in his letter:

[Paul's] battleground is the realm of human perception; wielding the Word of the Cross, he invades the perceptual landscape of his hearers, cutting across their accustomed (and, he believes, false) ways of knowing with the sharp expression of a new reality. The effectiveness of this strike, Paul's letter suggests, rests in the power of the Word he preaches to liberate both minds and bodies from the grasp of the false word to which he elsewhere refers as "the present evil age"... 

[1 Corinthians] reveals both that the transformation in view is a perceptual one--it concerns the way one see the world--and that it is governed by the cross. The perceptual focus is established by Paul's opening appeal for unity of mind, by the density of perceptual language (especially wisdom terminology) in the text, and by the culminating noetic claim of the argument in 2:16: "But we have the mind of Christ." As we will see, perceptual terminology is especially prevalent in the part of the discourse devoted to the cross where it is also strikingly intertwined with apocalyptic language and image. The way these themes--perception, cross, and apocalypse--combine in our text leaves little doubt that Paul's aim in preaching the cross is to alter his hearers' perception of the world in such a way as to alter their experience in the world. In the preaching of the cross, something is unveiled that moves the one who perceives it from one world to another...

This is a beautiful summary of what we mean by "the epistemological crisis of the cross." I'd bookmark this quote, because it bears revisiting. 

Key ideas from Brown:

Paul's battleground is the realm of human perception.

The Word of the Cross invades the perceptual landscape of its hearers, cutting across our ways of knowing with the sharp expression of a new reality.

The Word of the Cross liberates body and mind from the false words being spoken in this "present evil age."

The transformation experienced is a perceptual one, concerning the way we see the world, and thereby altering our experience in the world.

The cross confers upon us apocalyptic perception, exposing lies and revealing truth, moving the one who perceives from one world -- this "present evil age" -- into the kingdom of God.