Well Said: America and Corinth

America is strikingly similar to Corinth. According to polls, most Catholics consider themselves "Americans who happen to be Catholics," rather than "Catholics who happen to be Americans." Two of the words they dislike the most are "authority" (or "lordship") and "obedience." Yet these are precisely what Paul calls for.

Christ always sought out the most needy, and His Church has always followed His lead. Christianity naturally flows to the lowest places, like water. Corinth was the world's lowest place, the spiritual gutter. Yet the Corinthians thought of themselves as high, not low — like the high and airy temple of Aphrodite. For one thing, they were rich due to trade and prostitution. For another, they were well educated. Though they did not produce philosophers, many philosophers from Athens taught there. The most prominent philosophical school at the time was probably Scepticism. The last thing any of them would believe was a man rising from the dead.

Peter Kreeft, commenting on First Corinthians,

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