This latest addition to the Fortress Social-Science Commentaries on New Testament writings illuminates the values, perceptions, and social codes of the Mediterranean culture that shaped Paul and his interactions —both harmonious and conflicted — with others. Malina and Pilch add new dimensions to our understanding of the apostle as a social change agent, his coworkers as innovators, and his gospel as an assertion of the honor of the God of Israel.
"If you are tired of reading the
same 'new' book on Paul over
and over, this commentary
on the letters of Paul is the
place to go next. In addition
to traditional material on
rhetoric and background, this
social-scientific commentary
brings to the fore necessary,
significant and enlightening
ways of understanding the
social role of Paul and his social dynamics with
the churches he founded. In this it is unique;
it is the only comprehensive social-science
reading of Paul. The reading scenarios at the
end are themselves worth the price of this book."
— Jerome Neyrey, University of Notre Dame
"This is not the typical introspective, individualistic Paul of Western theology. Rather Malina and Pilch reveal Paul as a thoroughgoing Mediterranean person, functioning as a change agent among Israelites living in minority communities around the Greco-Roman world. Pauline theology will never look the same again."
— Richard L. Rohrbaugh, Lewis and Clark College
