Peter Oakes has long been recognized for his illuminating use of Greco-Roman material culture and social-scientific criticism to interpret the New Testament. This volume brings together his best work and introduces a substantial new essay that challenges current scholarly approaches to paradoxical teachings of the New Testament.Of special interest to Oakes throughout this book is the concrete impact of economic realities and Roman imperialism on first-century Christian communities ...

The resurrection of Jesus is arguably the most significant component of the Christian narrative and is critical for Paul's presentation of the Gospel. Yet it is routinely marginalized in study of the polemics of Galatians, largely because it is explicitly mentioned only once, and even then, only obliquely. This investigation redraws the boundaries of its impact in the letter, showing the risen Christ to be an indispensable feature of how Paul's argument unfolds and achieves its ultimate ob...

Isaac Mbabazi makes a major contribution to the field of New Testament by arguing that the relevant Matthean theme of interpersonal forgiveness is quite central to the first Gospel. In The Significance of Interpersonal Forgiveness in the Gospel of Matthew, he delineates five sets of evidence in support of his argument. Beginning with a survey of all Matthean forgiveness and forgiveness-related texts, he then carries out an in-depth exegesis of two key Matthean texts in which the idea of in...

What was the ancient world like?Ancient sources tell us a great deal about the cultural patterns and values that prevailed in the Mediterranean of the biblical periods:how they constructed identityhow they exercised control over groups, space, gender, and dresshow they thought of friendshiphow they participated in social and economic exchangehow ritual functioned and how kinship was constructedwhat healing practices, e...

Oakes and Boakye rethink Galatians by examining the text as a vision for the lives of its hearers. They show how, in tackling the difficulties that he faces in Galatia, Paul offers a vision of what the Galatians are in their relationship with the living Christ. This offers a new understanding of the concept of unity in diversity expressed in Gal 3:28.The authors develop their views over six chapters. First, Oakes maps a route from the letter to a focus on its Galatian hearers and o...

In this volume, respected New Testament scholar Peter Oakes offers a translation and reading of Galatians as presenting a gospel of unity in diversity in Christ. He shows that Paul treats the Galatians' possible abandonment of his gospel as putting at stake their fidelity to Christ. As with other volumes in the Paideia series, this volume is conversant with contemporary scholarship, draws on ancient backgrounds, and attends to the theological nature of the text. Students, pastors, and othe...