A Radical Jew: Paul and the Politics of Identity

Daniel Boyarin turns to the Epistles of Paul as the spiritual autobiography of a first—century Jewish cultural critic. What led Paul—in his dramatic conversion to Christianity—to such a radical critique of Jewish culture?

Paul's famous formulation, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, no male and female in Christ," demonstrates the genius of Christianity: its concern for all people. The genius of Judaism is its validation of genealogy and cultural, ethnic difference. But the evils of these two t...