This book, dedicated to the Galatian crisis, combines socio-rhetorical analysis with methods drawn from cultural anthropology. It engages in critical debate with the “New Perspective on Paul,” a scholarly trend that, for a generation now, has been altering the parameters of Pauline studies. Accepting the idea defended by this group of scholars, namely that Paul’s communicative context is one based on social identity, the author sees a change of perspective in Galatians. In the Gospel of his opponents, Paul identifies a perilous anthropological problem: the ancient culture of honor.
Linked to the particular issue of a reversion to the Torah, the conflict in Galatia highlights a potentially universal theological problem: the opposition of "the Gospel of Christ" (Gal 1:7) to the anthropology of honor found throughout the ancient Mediterranean. The Epistle to the Galatians, which addresses the preaching of the so-called “advocates of circumcision,” sketches out a human identity (both in its foundation and in its morality) based on grace and removed from worldly principles. It foreshadows the universalizing message that Paul would send to the Romans. A fundamental connection between these two letters thus becomes apparent.
