Description
Book SynopsisThis project attempts to listen to voices that have seldom been heard. While others have explored Paul’s theology of Christian freedom, they have not considered how Paul’s declaration of freedom would have been received by those who most desired and valued freedom: the slaves and freedpersons in the Galatian churches. In this study, Robin Thompson explores both Greek and Roman manumission, considers how the ancient Mediterranean world conceived of freedom, and then examines the freedom declared in Galatians from a freed slaves’s perspective. She proposes that these freedpersons would likely have perceived this freedom to be not only spiritual freedom, but—at least in the Christian communities—individual freedom as well.
Table of ContentsContents Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations 1 Introduction 2 Manumission and Circumscribed Freedom in Greece and Rome 1 Greek Manumission 2 Roman Manumission 3 The Circumscribed Freedom of Greek and Roman Freedpersons Compared 4 Manumission Practices in Galatia 3 Views of Freedom in the Ancient Mediterranean World 1 Greek Concepts of Freedom 2 Roman Concepts of Freedom 3 Jewish Concepts of Freedom 4 Greek, Roman, and Jewish Concepts of Freedom Compared 5 Paul’s Concept of Freedom 4 Freedom in Galatians: A Freed Slave’s Perspective 1 The Reasons Christ Set Believers Free 2 The Means by Which Christ Set Believers Free 3 The Cost of Freedom for Believers 4 The Extent of Freedom That Believers Receive 5 The Benefits of Freedom for Believers 6 How a Freedperson Would Have Likely Heard the Proclamation of Freedom in Galatians 5:1 7 Actual Slave and Freedperson Voices 8 Paul’s Vision of Freedom 5 Conclusion Bibliography Index
