Second Corinthians and ecclesiology:A Pauline message for church organisation today

The New Testament is a fundamental resource for the experience and identity of all believing Christians. Since the rise of critical biblical criticism in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, however, many Christians have been troubled with how to reconcile the historical understanding of the New Testament texts produced by such interpretation with the faith they have in Christ and with their belief that in him God was at work reconciling humankind and creation to himself. In this article I aim to outline how historical New Testament criticism can work in partnership with one branch of theology, namely, ecclesiology, to further the influence of the gospel in the face of certain challenges posed by our postmodern world