The Body of Christ and the Body Snatchers – Interpreting Metaphors for Church Across the Letters of Paul
The writings of the New Testament share various ways to think about the church and what it means to be a part of the church. This Cohort engages with letters from the historical Paul and his interpreters who wrote in his name to think about how this part of the Jesus movement and early church imagined what it means to belong to the church.
We will trace Paul’s use of the metaphor of the Body of Christ in 1 Corinthians and Romans, the appropriation and reorganization of that same metaphor by Paul’s interpreters in Ephesians and Colossians, and finally the replacement of the metaphor with the “Great Mansion” image by yet another interpreter of Paul in 2 Timothy.
Tracing these moves, we will think about the varied ways the Pauline tradition, as led by Paul and his interpreters, reflected on membership in the church and the role of the church in the world. Overall, the presentations and conversations of this Cohort will support participants in deepening their knowledge of the letters of Paul and those attributed to Paul, the early church, and how the metaphor of the Body of Christ can inspire and challenge our contemporary understandings of church and church membership in our different contexts.
Session 1 The Body of Christ in Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12
Session 2 The Body of Christ Appropriated and Represented in Colossians and Ephesians
Session 3 Where did the Body Go? The Church as a Great Mansion in the Pastoral Epistles (1 and 2 Timothy and Titus)
Facilitated by Rev. Shana Johnson
Rev. Johnson, an alumna and current Board Trustee of Eden Theological Seminary, is the Conference Minister of the Illinois South Conference of the United Church of Christ. Before judicatory work, Shana spent twenty years in local church ministry as an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, pastoring churches of every size. She is trained in transitional leadership, adaptive leadership, change management, and conflict resolution. One of her greatest joys is accompanying others in discovering their unique calling to serve in places where, as Frederick Buechner named it, where their “deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”
Content created by Rev. Dr. Deborah Krause, Professor of New Testament and President of Eden.
Dr. Krause's teaching and scholarship focus on methods of biblical interpretation and their roots in critical theory, theology, and politics. She teaches courses in the gospels, early Jewish exegesis, the Deutero-Pauline and pastoral epistles, and feminist-womanist, post-colonial, and postmodern biblical interpretation.
Students engage scripture critically in Dr. Krause’s classes to gain understanding of what the Bible has meant in the history of the church, and to gain insight into what it means and how they proclaim it today.
An ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church (USA), Dr. Krause serves the church through social justice advocacy work, teaching, preaching and scholarship.
Dates: 6-7:30pm CT, Jan. 5, Feb. 2, Mar 2, and Apr 13, 2026
all cohort meetings will be online
Ministry Cohorts
Ministry Cohorts allow you to sample many theological themes, offering peer learning with your ministry context in mind. Scholars have chosen a specific lens on a particular topic and share their expertise through digital content you watch on your own time. Four monthly online meetings are interspersed, where you and your Cohort members gather for facilitated discussion with an experienced church leader.
Cohorts support lifelong learning and are for anyone- authorized clergy, chaplains, Christian educators, lay leaders and anyone interested in the topic. UCC members will recognize the Marks for Ministry woven throughout the cohorts, though anyone from any denomination, or no denomination, is welcome to attend.
Completion of this Ministry Cohort provides 9 contact hours of continuing education, subject to approval by the participant's credentialing body.
