Paul's World, edited by Stanley Porter

The 4th installment in the Pauline Studies Series edited by Stanley Porter will be released in January 2008, according to information available in the publisher's website. (For earlier volumes in the series, see The Pauline Canon, Paul and His Opponents, and Paul and His Theology)

The forthcoming volume, Paul's World, appears to be promising and interesting. According to Brill, the publisher:

"This volume is concerned with Paul's world. The major question to ask is—what is that world of Paul? In determinable ways, Paul's world is everything in the world in which Paul lived and acted, and hence virtually everything that Paul did. In other words, Paul's world can be defined macrocosmically and microcosmically. As the term is defined in the various essays in this volume, Paul's world includes the surrounding environment in which Paul functioned, including its various religious, social, cultural, literary, rhetorical, linguistic and related phenomena. This volume treats some of the most important and germane factors that went into making up the world in which Paul lived, and that consequently defined who he was and became."

The contents of this volume include:

Preface

Abbreviations

Defining the Parameters of Paul’s World: An Introduction

Stanley E. Porter

The Problem of Paul’s Social Class: Further Reflections

Ronald F. Hock

Hellenistic Schools in Jerusalem and Paul’s Rhetorical Education

Andrew W. Pitts

Greco-Roman Concepts of Deity

Ron C. Fay

Paul and the Athletic Ideal in Antiquity: A Case Study in Wrestling with Word and Image

Jim Harrison

Crucifixion in the Ancient World: A Response to L.L. Welborn

Sean A. Adams

The Languages that Paul Did Not Speak

Stanley E. Porter

Paul at the Ball: Eccclesia Victor and the Cosmic Defeat of Personified Evil in Romans 16:20

Michael J. Thate

Paul, the Cults in Corinth, and the Corinthian Correspondence

Panayotis Coutsoumpos

Ephesians 5:18-19 and Religious Intoxication in the World of Paul

Craig A. Evans

The Letter to Philemon: A Discussion with J. Albert Harrill

Tobias Nicklas

Some Rhetorical Techniques in Acts 24:2-21

Craig S. Keener

Index of Ancient Sources

Index of Modern Authors

The downside of this book - the price! At US$127.00, it is out of reach for many, including the library of my seminary, and, of course, yours truly as well!