About the Author

J. Paul Sampley is Professor Emeritus of New Testament and Christian Origins, Boston University, and is the author of Pauline Parallels and "1 Corinthians" and "2 Corinthians" in the New Interpreter's Bible.

Reviews

"If you thought you didn't need another book on Paul in his Greco-Roman context, think again this one is different! Paul Sampley has assembled a cracking team of scholars, all experts in their own field, to put together an original and insightful collection of essays on some of the key cultural issues in Paul's world families, friendship, patrons, philosophy, slavery, honour and shame, and much more. And, equally important, he has forced us to think seriously about the relation between culture and context in Paul's presentation of the Gospel, in a way that does justice to the complexity of the issue. Not just a valuable research handbook, but an important book that deserves to be read as a serious contribution to Pauline studies in its own right." Revd Dr Loveday Alexander, Professor of Biblical Studies, University of Sheffield.--Sanford Lakoff

This splendid book will be consulted with great profit by persons interested in situating Paul in his world. The twenty one probes into such matters as social reality and social relations, law, education, literary and rhetorical conventions, and philosophy are more than mere handbook surveys. Written by experts on the topics they treat, the chapters do provide basic information to orient the reader, but escape handbook blandness by offering interesting and sometimes provocative personal views of the evidence. The book fully deserves the long and fruitful life it will enjoy.--Abraham J. Malherbe, Buckingham Professor Emeritus of New Testament Criticism and Interpretation, Yale Divinity School

Review in German. RBL (Society of Biblical Literature), 2/05

The reader will gain a fuller view of the Greco-Roman world that Paul inhabited, but the Apostle himself denies any facile identification. The Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 67, 2005

While interest over the last few decades has been placed on setting Paul s letters in the Greco-Roman world, no single book has integrated classical and New Testament studies in order to illuminate Greco-Roman conventions and practices in such an easy-to-read format until Sampley s editorial work, Paul in the Greco-Roman World. Sampley has chosen those subjects that are on the cutting edge of Pauline studies today, with each essay being fresh and offering a state-of-the-art treatment of its topic. For perhaps the first time, Sampley opens the world of classical studies to students studying the New Testament, and for that reason this book is commendable. RBL (Society of Biblical Literature), 2/05