Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

corpus-paul - Re: [Corpus-Paul] Gal 5:12

corpus-paul AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Corpus-Paul

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Elli Elliott" <elli AT visi.com>
  • To: "Corpus-Paul" <corpus-paul AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Corpus-Paul] Gal 5:12
  • Date: Thu, 1 Jan 2004 08:25:20 -0600

Happy New Year!
 
Jim West queried about Gal. 5:12.
 
Paul is speaking sarcastically here.  (i.e. "So if they're so hyped to get you guys to be circumcised, why don't they just go ahead and castrate themselves!")
 
According to the research I've done on Galatians in its Anatolian context, this zinger caps a rhetorical strategy Paul begins in 3:1 and is seen most clearly in 4:21-5:1.  He associates circumcision (and the Law) with the self-castration of the galli of the Mother of the Gods (and the Law as one of the Mountain Mothers).  He contrasts baptism and Christ to this joined negative association. 
 
If you are interested, my book on this is finally available: (Susan M. Elliott, Cutting Too Close for Comfort: Paul's Letter to the Galatians in its Anatolian Cultic Context.  Journal for the Study of the New Testamnet Supplement Series, 248. London & New York: T. & T. Clark International,  2003.)  
 
The basic core of the argument can be found in an article:  ("Choose Your Mother, Choose Your Master: Galatians 4:21-5:1 in the Shadow of the Anatolian Mountain Mother of the Gods." Journal of Biblical Literature, 118 (1999) 661-683.
 
 
(... interesting, but not preachable ...)
 
Elli
 
 
Elli Elliott
 
(The Rev. Susan M. Elliott, Ph.D.)
Minister for Faith and Learning, Plymouth Congregational Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Ph.D., New Testament and Early Christianity, Loyola University Chicago
 
personal e-mail: elli AT visi.com
Plymouth-related e-mail: elli AT plymouth.org



Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page