Description
Book SynopsisFrom the perspective of Paul's letter to the Galatians, this book offers an analysis of the cult of self-castration in its Anatolian cultic context. It argues that Paul attempts to dissuade his audience from being circumcised by identifying circumcision with the enslaving self-castration of the galli and by portraying the Law as a Mountain Mother.
Trade Review"'In this fascinating and timely monograph Susan Elliott seeks to understand Paul's letter to the Galatians, and in particular certain problematic metaphors and issues in the local context of Galatia. The sad fact is that, despite the amount of recent work devoted to this letter of Paul, such considerations of its specifically Gentile context have been lacking. Elliott's monograph should be seen as, one hopes, the first of several works trying to redress this imbalance. Her work is thorough, displaying an in-depth knowledge and familiarity not only with recent Pauline scholarship but also with classical scholarship and solid biblical exegesis of previous generations, spanning back well into the first few centuries after the one in which Paul wrote.' Review of Biblical Literature"
Table of ContentsIntroduction - Everyone But The Audience; Part 1: Galatian Problems; 1. The Law as a Slave-Concubine Mountain; 2. The Law as an Enslaving Figure: Galatians 3.19-4.11; Part 2: The Central Anatolian Religious Context; 3. A Divine Judicial System; 4. Our Mother, Our Place; 5. Attis and the Mother; 6. The Galli: The Mother's Slaves; Part 3: Paul Persuades His Anatolian Audience to Oppose Circumcision; 7. The Rhetorical Situation Revisited: Circumcision and Castration; 8. Hagar, The Meter Sinaiene: Galatians 4.21-5.1 as a Triple Analogy; 9. The Two Ways and the Unity of Galatians; 10. Flesh and Spirit in Galatians 3.1-5; Epilogue.
