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  • From: "Elli Elliott" <ellielliott AT email.msn.com>
  • To: "Corpus-paul" <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: RE: Galatian situation
  • Date: Tue, 19 Sep 2000 17:39:04 -0600


Mark,

Thanks for your response. I'm sure that we will continue to be mutually
non-persuaded. We each have a whole interpretation of the letter which
departs from the main currents and find it hard to think outside our own
constructs. This is especially true while the work is underway. I'm about
half finished writing a book based on the dissertation (which was long and
gangling and partially-formed in many places, as I've acknowledged before.)

I'm again pressed for time but wanted to respond on a couple of points.

You asked Moon how he means that "circumcision 'really means' a return to
paganism?" I'd be interested to hear more about this, too, Moon.

Mark, You also wrote in response to my statement that 4:10 "makes the most
sense if the calendar they're keeping is the one that goes with
circumcision, i.e. the Jewish calendar.
> Makes the "most" sense to whom?

Well, to me, I guess. We're in the realm of "I'm persuaded" and "I'm not
persuaded" here.

>I take circumcision to be symbolic of
> a much more involved process than a mere cut in the flesh, which is
> one aspect (for males) near the completion of this involved ritual
> process resulting in proselyte identity for "former" pagans. The
> enormous implications for such an identity transformation in terms of
> both the Jewish community and pagan one are too often overlooked. For
> example, on the pagan side, where will they now work if they should
> stop observing the family and neighborhood practices? What will they
> do about family and community events, which involve idolatrous
> practices at meals, festivals, parties, closing business deals,
> whatever.

My own work focuses on another aspect, circumcision as a ritual action on
the "flesh" and the significance of the ritual action as boundary-crossing
into and out of a sphere of influence. Your suggestions here help me
realize that I have had an unstated "hypothetical reconstruction" which
assumes that the Galatians have already made a break. (I use this term
assuming the original situation as the construction for which we proposes
reconstructions which are our own hypotheses. Given the nature of the
evidence, they're all speculative -- some moreso than others, present
company not included.) I realize that I have assumed that the community has
made some significant break from their previous practices and/or from the
cults in their context to become part of something new. Perhaps some of the
social pressures you picture are driving them toward Jewish groups or
practices, partly because there is a long-standing acceptance of Jews in
Anatolia. I see Paul basing his argument, in part, on identifying this
option with a cult and practices that they have already rejected.

I'm not sure that your construction of social pressures in Anatolia is
entirely consistent with the evidence. It's certainly a religiously complex
and mixed area and especially with the coming of Rome also economically
complex. Since it's difficult to place the letter with any certainty more
specifically than in central Anatolia, it's hard to say what options would
be for someone who made a break from their family's practices to ally with a
new cult (Christianity). Other new cults were clearly part of the mix, too.
The well-known cult rule from Philadelphia leaps to mind, but there are
other inscriptions that indicate a religiously creative mix. Economic
opportunities and options for relocation were also increasing in Paul's day.
My impression is of the social conditions in which some people do make a
break with family and form new communities. Your proposal is
thought-provoking along these lines.

Elli Elliott (elli AT ria.net)
Pastor, Zion United Church of Christ, Sterling, Colorado
PhD, New Testament & Early Christianity, Loyola University Chicago







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