Larry L. Welborn

PhD - Vanderbilt University
MAR - Yale Divinity School
BA - Harding College

Post-Graduate Studies
Universität Tübingen
University of Chicago

Pauline epistles, especially the Corinthian correspondence; Apostolic Fathers, especially First Clement

My publications have explored Paul’s letters and First Clement in four contexts of Greco-Roman culture: politics, the theater, friendship, and the emotions. A secondary area of research interest is the reception history of Paul’s Epistle to the Romans.

The First Urban Churches 6:  Rome and Ostia, ed. James R. Harrison and L. L. Welborn (Atlanta: SBL Press, 2021).

"A. D. Nock on the Exclusiveness of Conversion to Christianity:  A Re-evaluation with Reference to Evidence from Roman Corinth," in the book Celebrating Arthur Darby Nock:  Choice, Change, and Conversion, ed. Robert Matthew Calhoun, James A. Kehlhoffer, and Clare K. Rothschild (Tübingen:  Mohr Siebeck, 2021).

"On the Basis of Equality:  Paul between Protagoras and Ranciere" in Political Theology on Edge: Ruptures of Justice and Belief in the Anthropocene, ed. Clayton Crockett and Catherine Keller (New York:  Fordham University Press, 2021).

“Harnack’s Testament” in The Letter of the Roman Church to the Corinthian Church from the Era of Domitian (1 Clement), ed. Jacob N. Cerone (Eugene:  Pickwick Publications, 2020): xvii-xxv.

“Retrospect on a Challenge to the Consensus on the Date of 1 Clement,” Biblical Research 65 (2020): 95-103.

The First Urban Churches 5:  Colossae, Hierapolis, and Laodicea, ed. L. L. Welborn and James R. Harrison (Atlanta:  SBL Press, 2019).

“How ‘democratic’ was the Pauline ekklēsia?  An Assessment with Special Reference to the Christ Groups of Roman Corinth,” New Testament Studies 65 (2019): 289-309. 

The First Urban Churches 4:  Philippi, ed. L. L. Welborn and James R. Harrison (Atlanta:  SBL Press, 2018). 

“1 Corinthians:  Introduction and Notes,” The New Oxford Annotated Bible, ed. M. Coogan, P. Perkins, et al. (New York:  Oxford University Press, 2018) 1999-2023.

The Young against the Old: Generational Conflict in First Clement (Lanham: Fortress Press Academic, 2018).

The First Urban Churches 3: Ephesus, ed. L. L. Welborn and James R. Harrison (Atlanta: SBL Press, 2017).

“Paul’s Place in a First-Century Revival of the Discourse of ‘Equality’,” Harvard Theological Review 110 (October, 2017): 541-562.

“Marxism and Capitalism in Pauline Studies” in Paul and Economics, ed. Thomas R. Blanton (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2017): 361-396.

“Roman Political Ideology and the Authority of First Clement” in Into All the World: Emergent Christianity in its Jewish and Greco-Roman Contexts, ed. Mark Harding and Alanna Nobbs (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2017).

“Jealousy, Envy, Strife and Discord in First Clement,” Journal of Beliefs and Values 38 (2017): 173- 179.

“Paulus und der Unrechttäter des 2. Korintherbriefes: Das Ringen um Versöhnung,” Zeitschrift für Neues Testament 38 (2016): 27-42.

“Inequality in Roman Corinth: Evidence from Diverse Sources Evaluated According to a Neo-Ricardian Model” in The First Urban Churches, Volume 2: Roman Corinth, ed. James R. Harrison and L. L. Welborn (Atlanta:Scholars Press, 2016): 47-84.

“A Coin of Aretas, with Possible Implications for the Chronology of Paul’s Life” in Aspects of the Roman East: Papers in Honor of Fergus Millar, Studia Antiqua Australiensis 5, ed. Samuel Lieu (Turnhout: Brepols, 2016): 279-299.

“The Polis and the Poor: Reconstructing Social Relations from Diverse Genres of Evidence” in The First Urban Churches, Volume 1: Methodological Considerations, ed. James R. Harrison and L. L. Welborn (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 2015): 189-244.

Paul’s Summons to Messianic Life: Political Theology and the Coming Awakening (New York: Columbia University Press, 2015).

“Voluntary Exile as the Solution to Discord in 1 Clement,” Zeitschrift für antikes Christentum 18.1 (2014): 6-21.

“The Corinthian Correspondence” in All Things to All Cultures, ed. M. Harding and A. Nobbs (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2013): 205-242.

“The Culture of Crucifixion and the Resurrection of the Dispossessed” in Paul and the Philosophers, ed. Ward Blanton and Hent de Vries (New York: Fordham University
Press, 2013): 127-142.

“Jacob Taubes: Paulinist, Messianist” in Paul in the Grip of the Continental Philosophers, ed. Peter Frick (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2013): 69-90.

“’That There May Be Equality’: The Contexts and Consequences of a Pauline Ideal,” New Testament Studies 59.1 (2013): 73-90.

“Towards Structural Marxism as a Hermeneutic of Early Christian Literature, illustrated by Reference to Paul’s Spectacle Metaphor in 1 Corinthians 15:30-32,” The Bible and Critical Theory 83 (2012): 39-51.

“The Palatine Graffito: A Mimic Interpretation,” Journal of the Society for the Study of Early Christianity 73 (2012) 1-11.

“Paul and Pain: Paul’s Emotional Therapy in 2 Corinthians 1:1-2:13; 7:5-16 in the Context of Ancient Psychagogic Literature,” New Testament Studies 57 (2011): 1-24.

An End to Enmity: Paul and the “Wrongdoer” of Second Corinthians (Berlin and New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2011).

“1 Corinthians: Introduction and Notes,” The New Oxford Annotated Bible, ed. M. Coogan P. Perkins, et al. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010): 1999-2023.

“Inculturation of Christianity in the Greco-Roman World,” The Cambridge Dictionary of Christianity, ed. D. Patte (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010): 594-595.

“History, Concepts of,” The Cambridge Dictionary of Christianity, ed. D. Patte (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010) 520-521.

“Corinthians, 1 & 2 Epistles,” The Cambridge Dictionary of Christianity, ed. D. Patte (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010) 279-280.

“By the Mouth of Two or Three Witnesses: Paul’s Invocation of a Deuteronomic Statute,” Novum Testamentum 52 (2010): 207-220.

“Paul’s Caricature of his Chief Rival as a Pompous Parasite in 2 Corinthians 11:20,” Journal For the Study of the New Testament 32 (2009): 39-56.

"Extraction from the Mortal Site:  Badiou on the Resurrection in Paul," New Testament Studies 55 (2009): 1-20.

Early Patristic Reading of Romans, eds. K. Gaca and L. L. Welborn (London: T & T Clark, 2006).

Paul, the Fool of Christ: A Study of 1 Corinthians 1-4 in the Comic-Philosophic Tradition (London: T & T Clark, 2005).

Encounters with Hellenism: Studies in First Clement, eds. C. Breytenbach and L. L. Welborn (Leiden: Brill, 2004).

“Paul’s Appeal to the Emotions in 2 Corinthians 1:1-2:13; 7:5-16,” Journal for the Study of the New Testament 82 (2002): 34-55.

Editorial Responsibilities

Synkrisis: Invitations to Early Christianity in Greco-Roman Culture, eds. Dale Martin and L. L. Welborn (Yale University Press)

The Society of Biblical Literature History of Biblical Studies, eds. Leo Perdue and L. L. Welborn (The Society of Biblical Literature)

Fall 2023

• THEO-3200-R01    Introduction to New Testament
• THEO-6192-R01    Greco-Roman Christianity and Early Christianity

Spring 2023

• TBA