Fortress Press

"At a time when 'subtexts' and 'implicit narratives' are all the rage, A. Andrew Das insists on some core scholarly virtues: rigorous method, unforced exegesis, and the careful weighing of evidence. Although many of the hypotheses advanced by others that he tests come up short, Das's argument is not simply negative. His many fruitful suggestions, alongside his wise words of caution, deserve careful attention from all readers of Galatians."

"In this methodologically sophisticated study, A. Andrew Das conducts a careful examination of the evidence for various scholarly claims regarding the influence of biblical narratives on Paul's letters and finds them wanting. In the process, he lays out a critical roadmap for other scholars to follow in analyzing similar claims in the future. This is exactly the kind of sober analysis that has been missing from so much recent work on Paul's engagement with Scripture. Those who work in this area can learn much from Das's clear-headed model."

"Many New Testament scholars—far too many according to Andrew Das—are given to finding 'grand thematic narratives' in various places in the New Testament, especially in Paul's letter to the Galatians. On the basis of detailed work on this important Pauline letter, Das examines six of these grand narratives and subjects them all to a similar strong yet fair critique. He ends up showing that there are a lot of 'emperors' running around loose without sufficient clothing. In other words, each of the proposals fails to provide a well-grounded and convincing grand narrative. I commend Das's attempt to bring methodological clarity to an area that has been given over to far too much speculation that has left the text of Galatians behind and entered into various types of 'piling on' of supposed evidence. This does not mean that there are not stories to be told even in Galatians, but Das rightly calls for them to be grounded in what Paul himself says, not in what we might wish he had said."