The Irony of Galatians

The Irony of Galatians: Paul’s Letter in First-Century Context

Fortress Press, 2002

Endorsements from the back cover:


“The Irony of Galatians is the most thorough and innovative investigation of this letter since Betz’s Hermeneia commentary (1979). It develops a completely new approach to Galatians as a response to local Jewish ‘influencers’ who sought to bring members of Christian cells into the status of honored proselytes within their synagogues. With his mastery of historical, social, and linguistic details, Mark Nanos challenges centuries of traditional interpretations–including my own. This incisive book is certain to become the storm center of future debate, throwing new light onto the interaction between Jewish and Christian groups in the first century.”

— Robert Jewett, Visiting Professor, University of Heidelberg



“Like a judge hearing a case of domestic conflict and ferreting out the issues, Mark Nanos gives a rigorous, fair-minded assessment of a Jewish context for Galatians and of Paul’s engagement as a Jew with both Jews and Gentiles in that context. In the service of his historical construal, he adeptly employs rhetoric, genre criticism, literary theory, the social sciences, philology, and comparative history of religions. The result is a sensitive reading of how Paul, the Galatians, and the influencers variously seek understandings of identity in terms of who is included in the people of God, which is also a question of how marginalized people find a place of belonging in a dominant in-group. Even the most venturesome aspects of his thesis will demand serious attention from other scholars.”

— Robert L. Brawley, Albert G. McGaw Professor Of New Testament, McCormick Theological Seminary

 

Reviews

In The Bible Today (July/August, 2002): 266.

In Currents in Theology and Mission (April, 2004).

By Michael Bachmann, in Biblische Zeitschrift 48.1 (2004): 97-103 (Review essay; German).

By K. E. Brower, in The Evangelical Quarterly 76.3 (2004) 260-62.

By Steven D. Burton, in Jewish Book World (2002): 31-32.

By Stephen Chester, in Biblica 84.1 (2003): 135-39.

By A. Andrew Das, in Interpretation 57.3 (July, 2003): 328-29.

By Martinus C. de Boer, in Biblical Interpretation 12.4 (2004): 421-24.

By Paul B. Duff, in Journal of Religion 82.4 (2002): 621-22.

By Erik M. Heen, in Journal of Biblical Literature (2002): 376-77. Also available online in Review of Biblical Literature (RBL Sept. 23, 2002).

By J. P. Holding, at Tektonics Web Site, July, 2002.

By Richard W. Johnson, in Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 46.1 (2003): 134-36.

By Brigitte Kahl, in Union Seminary Bulletin 56.3-4 (2002): 200-202.

By Robert D. Keay, in Horizons in Biblical Theology 24.2 (2002): 122-23.

By Edger Krentz, in Currents in Theology and Mission 31.2 (April, 2004): 139.

By David W. Kuck, in Religious Studies Review 29.1 (Jan., 2003): 94.

By Ian McDonald, in Expository Times 114.5 (Feb., 2003 Book of the Month): 145, 161-64.

By Dieter Mitternacht, in Swedish Theological Quarterly 79 (2003): 60-62 [English translation by Mitternacht].

By Tobias Nicklas, in Review of Biblical Literature 5/9/2005 [in German].

By Peter Oakes, in Journal of Semitic Studies 49.1 (2004): 165-67.

By Rod Olsen, in Lutheran Libraries (Fall 2002): 90-91.

By Russell L. Resnik, in Kesher: A Journal of Messianic Judaism 15 (2002): 90-96.

By William A. Richards, in Anglican Theological Review 85.2 (2003): 396-97.

By Anders Runesson, in Svensk Exegetisk Årsbok 68 (2003): 221-23 [in Swedish; English translation by Runesson].

By Dieter Sänger, in Theologische Literaturzeitung 130.11 (2005): 1192-1194 [in German].

By Matthew L. Skinner, in Theology Today 59.3 (2002): 520.

By George M. Smiga, in Catholic Biblical Quarterly 65 (2003): 131-33.

By Graham Stanton, in Journal of Theological Studies 56:2 (2005): 568-72.

By Thomas H. Tobin, S.J., in Theological Studies 64.4 (2003): 839-40.

By Dirk van der Merwe, in Neotestamentica 37.2 (2003): 355-57.