David A. deSilva 
Global Readings [PDF ebook] 
A Sri Lankan Commentary on Paul’s Letter to the Galatians

Reading Scripture with a view to hearing its significance and challenge within its original, foreign context is the essence of exegesis and an anchor point for responsible hermeneutics. Reading Scripture alongside others from a significantly different social location also helps us see fresh aspects of the meaning of the text itself, as well as fresh angles on its challenge to Christian discipleship. This innovative commentary by respected New Testament scholar David de Silva is grounded in both approaches: a careful exegesis of Galatians as a basis for discerning the challenge of Scripture in any social location; and a reading of Galatians from the viewpoint of the challenges to living out its message among the churches in Sri Lanka, the result of extensive interaction with Christian leaders in Sri Lanka. Seeing the text afresh from within its ancient context and a different, modern social location will challenge readers in the West to consider once more Paul’s message of transformation through the Spirit, with implications for Western Christians in their own context and in the larger global matrix of the Church universal.

About the author

David A. de Silva is Trustees’ Distinguished Professor of New Testament and Greek at Ashland Theological Seminary in Ashland, Ohio, and an ordained elder in the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church. He is the author of twenty books, including Global Readings: A Sri Lankan Commentary on Paul’s Letter to the Galatians (Cascade 2011); Seeing Things John’s Way: The Rhetoric of the Book of Revelation (2009); An Introduction to the New Testament: Contexts, Methods & Ministry Formation (2004); Introducing the Apocrypha (2002); and Perseverance in Gratitude: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on the Epistle ‘to the Hebrews’ (2000).