Portraits of Paul: An Archaeology of Ancient Personality

How did ancient persons understand themselves, other people, and the world around them? Is there a marked contrast between their understandings of "self" and "other" and the way modern Westerners define the same? Bruce Malina and Jerome Neyrey focus on the figure of Paul to provide a comprehensive investigation of how one man was perceived in the ancient world. Drawing on primary sources from antiquity, as well a lessons from cultural anthropology, the authors help provide a fuller understanding of the person of Paul and his world. The result is a new, more balanced way to approach the New Testament.