Theology of the Crown of Thorns for the Outcast and Paul’s Thorn in the Flesh in Second Corinthians 12:7

Abstract

Do liberation hermeneutics and traditional historical-grammatical hermeneutics intersect in their reading of the text? In this article, I have chosen Paul’s thorn in the flesh in 2 Cor 12:7-10 as a test case to examine how a particular reading of liberation theology from Asian liberation theologian Teruo Kuribayashi intersects with the traditional exegesis. Thus, I will first describe Kuribayashi’s theology of the crown of thorns and then I will evaluate his interpretation in light of a careful exegesis of Paul’s symbolic use of the thorn in the flesh in 2 Corinthians. The purpose of the article is to appreciate the hermeneutical heritages of both the Western and the non-Western traditions and to call for a holistic interpretation of the biblical text. Incidentally, this article asks whether the source of our interpretation comes from the biblical text, the reality of interpreters, or both.