All of You are One: Paul and the Cohesion of Identity in Galatia
Date
2011
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Producer
Director
Performer
Choreographer
Costume Designer
Music
Videographer
Lighting Designer
Set Designer
Crew Member
Funder
Rehearsal Director
Concert Coordinator
Advisor
Moderator
Panelist
Alternative Title
Department
Haverford College. Department of Religion
Type
Thesis
Original Format
Running Time
File Format
Place of Publication
Date Span
Copyright Date
Award
Language
eng
Note
Table of Contents
Terms of Use
Rights Holder
Access Restrictions
Open Access
Terms of Use
Tripod URL
Identifier
Abstract
The point of my thesis All of You are One: Paul and the Cohesion of Identity in Galatia is threefold. First, I attempt to reconstruct both Jewish and Galatian historical context before and at the time Paul was writing. In doing so, I place them both as marginalized communities under Roman rule, both in equal danger of being subsumed by Roman culture and religious custom completely. In light of this context, I then place Paul within it as an individual raised as a Jew but intending to spread his own personal message as a self-defining member of a new community of his own creation. He calls himself an 'Israelite,' bringing to mind the original descendants of Abraham--a deliberate comparison. Paul uses this term to invoke this ideal, but also to use it to redefine his own religious and social category. The term 'Israelite' is particularly relevant considering the emphasis Paul puts on biblical quotes from Genesis and Leviticus. He draws these quotes from his roots and reinterprets them for his new audience, allowing them to become a part of this newly-defined community that is a merging of Paul's Jewish and his audience's Galatian experiences into a new group that includes all who believe and rejects cultural distinctions. This group, in doing so, also gives them a workable alternative to allowing their cultures to be consumed by Rome by casting off their old culture and accepting instead Paul's new conception of theology--in rejecting previous ritual and distinction age and instead embracing Paul's lack of distraction in the physical, thereby rendering inconsequential any physical acts of ritual Rome could potentially force upon them as conquered groups. This message, while problematic in its destruction of cultural heritage, was a solution to the conflicts at the time, and was a sympathetic and unifying message that can carry over into today. Paul was writing to marginalized and oppressed groups, theologizing for their spiritual freedom from their oppressors. This message of liberation from an individual so historically consistently quoted to keep the marginalized from liberation is empowering to readers today, as it was empowering for readers at the time of its writing.