Additional information
by Don Garlington (Author)
The present commentary seeks to be a kind of halfway house between highly technical and popular treatments of Galatians. Its purpose is to make the exposition as user-friendly as possible with only as many technicalities as necessary to accomplish that end. The emphasis of the work is decidedly theological, with attention focused on the salvation historical argument of Paul's letter. Its main target audience includes pastors, students, and Pauline scholars. The exposition assumes a modified form of the ""New Perspective"" on Paul and Second Temple Judaism as its framework of interpretation, and for this reason a premium has been placed on the letter's historical context as attested by the literature of Second Temple Judaism as well as the Greco-Roman environment. However, far from being inimical to the foundational concerns of the Reformation, this reading of the Galatian letter is fully supportive of the great mottoes of the Reformers themselves: Sola Scriptura, Sola Fide, and especially Solus Christus, and all the more as the present work endeavors to honor an oft-neglected slogan of the Reformation, Ad Fontes (to the sources). The previous subtitle, A New Perspective/Reformational Reading, has now been changed to A Reading from the New Perspective in order to underscore the author's appreciation of what has been learned from such scholars as J. D. G. Dunn, N. T. Wright, and numerous others.
Author Biography
Don Garlington earned MDiv and ThM degrees at Westminster Theological Seminary. From 1977 to 1982 he was a lecturer in biblical studies at Trinity Ministerial Academy, Montville, New Jersey. Thereafter, he obtained the PhD from the University of Durham, completing his thesis on The Obedience of Faith: A Pauline Phrase in Historical Context under the supervision of James D. G. Dunn. From 1987 to 2002 he was Professor of New Testament at Toronto Baptist Seminary. From 2004 to 2006 he was Adjunct Professor of New Testament at Tyndale Seminary, Toronto. He continues to make his home in Toronto and is currently engaged in a variety of writing projects.
His publications include 'The Obedience of Faith: APauline Phrase in Historical Context'; 'Faith, Obedience, and Perseverance: Aspects of Paul's Letter to the Romans'; 'Exegetical Essays' (3rd ed., Wipf & Stock, 2003); 'In Defense of the New Perspective on Paul: Essays and Reviews' (Wipf & Stock, 2005), and numerous articles in various periodicals.
