Table of Contents

Introduction
Chapter 1: "The Third Race" and Pauline Studies
A. Race, Ethnicity, and NT Scholarship
B. Studying Race and Ethnicity

Part 1 - Models of Racial and Ethnic Identity

Chapter 2: Race and Ethnicity in Modernity
A. The Modern Idea of Race
B. Ethnicity in Late 20th Century Scholarship
C. Models of Race and Ethnicity
D. Focal Images

Chapter 3: Race and Ethnicity in Antiquity
A. Etymology of Race and Ethnicity
B. Race and Ethnicity in non-Jewish, Jewish, and Christian Authors
C. Greek and Jewish Perspectives on Race and Ethnicity
D. Ethnicity and Race: Ancient and Modern Perspectives

Part 2 - The Racial Character of Pauline Christianity

Chapter 4: Paul's Self-Identity and Relational Matrix
A. Community and Kinship in Paul
B. Paul's Self-Identity and Group Affiliation
C. A Former Jew

Chapter 5: The Dialectics of Christian Racial Identity
A. Eschatological Criteria
B. Eschatological Indicia
C. Eschatological Relationships
D. Continuity and Discontinuity in Paul

Conclusion

Chapter 6: Scandal and Opportunity in Racial Christianity
A. Paul and Daniel Boyarin's A Radical Jew
B. Paul and Brad Braxton's No Longer Slaves

Promotional Information

Sechrest describes Pauline Christianity as a nascent ancient racial group, drawing on a Jewish understanding of race in Second Temple Judaism.

About the Author

Love Sechrest, Ph.D. is Assistant Professor of New Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA, USA

Reviews

"Sechrest explores the conceptions of race and ethnicity in documents written by Paul of Tarsus, contributing thereby to questions about race and ethnicity in antiquity, group identity in the Pauline corpus, and whether the fledgling Christian community conceived of itself as a sect or offshoot of Judaism. Among her topics are the third race and Pauline studies, the modern concept of race, non-Jewish and Jewish perspectives on race and ethnicity, Paul's self-identity and group affiliation, intergroup relationships, and the suppression of difference in Christ in Daniel Boyarin's A Radical Jew." -Eithne O'Leyne, BOOK NEWS, Inc.

"This volume observes that some early Christians identified their movement as a 'race' and examines what ancient Jewish and Christian writers would have meant by such terminology.  After an eighteen-page introduction to the 'third race' and Pauline studies, it considers race and ethnicity in modernity and in antiquity, respectively.  Next it discusses the racial character of Pauline Christianity, with reference to Paul's self-identity and relational matrix, and to the dialectics of race relations in Christ.  Then it reflects on racial Christianity and identity politics.  Sechrest concludes that a racial construction of Christian identity that embraces powerlessness and exile along with the transformation of racial and ethnic birth identity that occurs in Christ would not only preserve the best of Jewish being-in-the-world but also the best of pre-Constantinian Pauline Christianity." -New Testament Abstracts, Vol. 54

‘This book is to be commended on many fronts, most notably for its exhaustive survey of ancient texts and its adroit examination of Galatians in the light of a Christian dialectic of race and ethnicity...this work represents a fresh contribution to the field of Pauline study, and will also provide valuable information to those interested in Paul's cultural context.'
*Expository Times*

Sechrest's book raises important questions of race and religion in the ancient Greek world, contributing to theological and social debates relevant within and beyond the academy.
*Journal for the Study of The New Testament, Volume 33 Number 5*