Includes bibliographical references (p. 125-138) and index.

The price of unity. The "body of Christ" today ; Reading as a citizen of the world ; A few words about method -- Community as "body." Community in theological and historical approaches ; Sociological or social-scientific approaches ; The approach of the history-of-religions school (Boundaries ; Identity ; Structure or power relationships) ; The conception of community called for in our present context -- Community as the "body of Christ." The body of Christ as organic unity ; The body of Christ as corporate solidarity ; Christological approaches ; Summary and critique ; Conceiving the "body of Christ" in a cruciform reality -- Community "in Christ." An alternative reading of "in Christ" in 1 Corinthians ; "In Christ" as a modal relation : dying with Christ -- The body politic and the body of Christ. The body politic in the Greco-Roman and ancient Jewish worlds (The politics of the hegemonic body ; The body politic of the democratic-inclusive body ; Paul and the democratic-inclusive body) ; The "disembodiment" of Christ in Corinth (Divisions ; Sexual immorality ; Marriage-related matters ; Eating meat sacrificed to idols ; Rights of Paul ; Women's head coverings ; The Lord's Supper ; Resurrection) ; Summary -- The life of the "body of Christ" in 1 Corinthians. Language for "the body" in 1 Corinthians (An ethic of the Christic body ; Tracing the Christic body in 1 Corinthians) ; Outline of the discursive figurative structure of 1 Corinthians (1:1-17, Paul, Apostle of Christ Jesus, and the Corinthians, sanctified in Christ Jesus ; 1:18-4:21, the cross as God's power, exemplified by the Corinthians and embodied by Paul ; 5:1-11:34, the Corinthians' failure to embody Christ crucified, Paul's exhortation to the Corinthians calling for participation in Christ crucified ; 12:1-15:11, exhortation : the Corinthian body as Christic embodiment ; 15:12-58, as Christ crucified was raised, so the crucified body of the Christians will be raised ; 16:1-24, conclusion) ; The life of the Christic body in Corinth (Taking the measure of love, 1 Corinthians 13 ; The call to build a loving community, 14:1-15:11 ; The Christic body and the raised body of Christ, 15:12-58) -- Practicing the diversity of Christ's body. Diversity as discernment ; Diversity as balance ; Christ's body and multiculturalism ; Summary.