Galatians Quotes

“the Platonized eschatology so popular over many centuries (how will my soul get to heaven?) has played host to a moralized anthropology (what’s to be done about my sin?), generating a quasi-pagan soteriology (God killed Jesus instead of punishing me).11 This has been assumed to be what Paul was saying in these letters. More specifically, when people express “faith” in this line of thought, they are assured that they are therefore forgiven and heaven-bound. This, it has been assumed, is what Paul meant by “justification.” One can see a low-grade version of this when young persons, moved by a sermon or perhaps by an apologetic argument, say a prayer of Christian commitment and are thereupon informed that they are now “justified by faith,” that they are therefore going to heaven, and that they must not try to supplement this pure, justifying “faith” either with moral effort or with religious ritual.”
― N.T. Wright, Galatians (Commentaries for Christian Formation

“I think “tolerance” is being seen for what it is, a low-grade post-Enlightenment version of “love.” It is often remarked that those who hail the word “tolerance” regularly become intolerant of all other views, just as those who champion “inclusivity” regularly become increasingly exclusive toward worldviews other than their own.”
― N.T. Wright, Galatians (Commentaries for Christian Formation

“There is something else going on here, explored by Ernest Clark in his groundbreaking dissertation.13 Clark, through an exhaustive survey of stoicheia in the Greek world, highlighted the medical literature (with writers like Galen prominent but by no means unique). It was a commonplace among ancient doctors that human beings were composed of the four stoicheia, earth, air, water, and fire. This was explored in different ways by different philosophies. But the point here is that illness was diagnosed in terms of an imbalance in the stoicheia, rather like the “humors” in medieval European medicine. When the diagnosis has been made, and it turns out that the patient’s stoicheia are out of balance, out of harmony, what is needed is some kind of medical regime, a course of treatment. Such a “regime” would be a nomos, a “law.” And this nomos would regularly function as a paidagōgos, to lead the patient back to health, like the child being taken to school by the household slave. This observation is a central feature of Clark’s thesis.”
― N.T. Wright, Galatians (Commentaries for Christian Formation

“the Platonized eschatology so popular over many centuries (how will my soul get to heaven?) has played host to a moralized anthropology (what’s to be done about my sin?), generating a quasi-pagan soteriology (God killed Jesus instead of punishing me).”
― N.T. Wright, Galatians (Commentaries for Christian Formation

“A biblical commentary is first and foremost a work of history. But history is a matter of learning not only the tune but also the rhythm and the harmonies.”
― N.T. Wright, Galatians (Commentaries for Christian Formation