Corpus-Paul

[Ray Pickett <rpickett AT unidial.com>]

Sheila E. McGinn, Ph.D. wrote:
> 
> Mark and Ray, thanks for allowing us to "lurk" on your interesting 
> discussion.
> 
> I want to piggy-back on Jeff Peterson's comment about the ones at whose 
> hands the Gal.
> have suffered.  On what grounds are you reading 6:12 as referring to Jews?  
> Especially
> the "bewitchment" and "evil eye" language in chpt 3:1ff makes better sense 
> to me in
> the context of a pagan opposition.  What is your view?

Thanks for this observation Sheila. Yes, this is my view precisely. I
think these communities are comprised of converts from paganism, and
that they "suffered" the price of no longer participating in the rituals
and festivities of paganism in the empire. Pagan religious practices
were inseparable from the imperial social order, and it is this
religious-political order which Paul thinks has been subverted in the
crucifixion and resurrection. 

Related to this, I think liberation from this dehumanizing order is the
primary reference of "freedom" in this letter. First and foremost these
gentiles have been liberated from paganism ("the present evil age"), and
that experience of liberation is the basis for asking them why they
would want to submit to an ethnocentric way of ordering their lives when
they have been baptized into Christ and received the Spirit.

Sheila, if you understand the context of this letter to be pagan, I
would be interested in how you interpret the situation. I think we may
be in a minority on this.

Regards,
Ray Pickett
Lutheran Seminary in the Southwest