Letters to the Galatians & Ephesians

William Barclay in his bible study guide The Letters to the Galatians and Ephesians addresses these two epistles by Paul and considers their meaning in the time in which they were written and their importance to Christianity since. Barclay is a well-known Scottish New Testament interpreter. He has been honored as a profound scholar and a strong writer who is dedicated to conveying his interpretation of scripture to his readers in a clear fashion. He studied at the University of Glasgow and at Marburg University in Germany. He was the minister of Trinity Church in Renfrew, Scotland, and later he served as Professor of Divinity and Biblical Criticism at the University of Glasgow. He has written a number of books on biblical interpretation.

Barclay indicates the purpose of his book when he offers a general introduction to the letters of Paul and points out some of the difficulties involved, difficulties which he is trying to resolve in this book. The letters of Paul attracted Barclay because he sees them as the most interesting body of documents in the New Testament because of all forms of literature, the letter is the most personal. We know as much as we do about Paul because he left behind so many letters, while other figures from the period did not and so are less real to us today:

In them he opened his mind and heart to the folk he loved so much; and in them, to this day, we can see that great mind grappling with the problems of the early church and feel that great

Related Essays

Learning How to Learn .... Paul's vigorous promotion of the new faith ended with his martyrdom, but there is nothing in his letters to Corinthians, Galatians, and so on to indicate that .... (6673 27 )

Paul's Views of Ministry .... to quote a passage in Galatians (3.28) calling for unity of Jew and Greek, slave and free, "in Christ Jesus," which is echoed in other letters to communities .... (3566 14 )

Early Christian Theology .... Baur cites Paul's letters to the Corinthians and Galatians, in which "the standpoint of the higher religio-historical contemplation. .... (2628 11 )

Christianity Texts .... is reflected in the letters of scripture that are attributed to his authorship: Romans, Corinthians, Ephesians, Colossians, Galatians, Thessalonians, Hebrews. .... (2878 12 )

Spiritualityof the Apostolic Period .... But according to Baur (1972, p. 285), the letters to the Corinthians, like those to the Galatians, have as their real concern "the higher religio-historical .... (10726 43 )

Category: Philosophy - L