Abrahams Divided Children

This addition to the popular New Testament in Context series focuses on the politics of division in Paul’s letter to the Galations. Galatians has been traditionally read as the “Magna Carta” of Christian liberty, teaching that Gentiles need not become Jews before becoming Christians. Pheme Perkins demonstrates that the matter is not so simple. She uses recent evidence to show that the communal boundaries of Judaism were more porous than has been assumed. Rather than portraying a simple conflict between Jews and Gentile converts, Galatians depicts a Jewish community whose identity is in flux and Gentile converts who were not entirely certain about their lineage in the Christian faith. Perkins argues that while Paul might have tried to use his rhetoric to encourage unity among Gentile converts, he actually created harsh divisions between the Christian and Jewish communities. Perkins’ lively and engaging reading of Galatians challenges much debated Pauline text.