"Reading 2 Corinthians is no easy task. What is the shape of Paul's argument? What can account for the major structural developments in the text? Turning to scholarship for answers is a bewildering experience as there are as many solutions to these questions as there are scholars of 2 Corinthians. Of course, the various partition theories, chronologies of Paul and his letters, and historical-critical reading strategies complicate matters further. What is needed is an integrated approach that doesn't lose sight of the wood for the trees, one that is conversant with the major scholarly issues and can advance a thesis with methodological clarity. Thankfully, into these choppy waters now wades Kei Hiramatsu with a set of elegant and sophisticated proposals to account for the shape of 2 Corinthians as a whole. He is conversant with the insights of topical, epistolary, rhetorical, literary, and discourse analytical findings, but moves beyond them all by employing an inductive and integrated methodology. The result is a compelling account of the major structural relations of the letter as a whole, both in broad sweep and in detail. Hiramatsu's structural analysis and methodology also offer him opportunity to present fresh perspectives on the theology of 2 Corinthians.

It is, therefore, a delight that this learned and important work is now available to the wider academic community. Simply put, any future scholarly engagement with 2 Corinthians will need to tackle Hiramatsu's scholarship." -- Chris Tilling, St Mellitus College, UK.