The five articles and Simon Prices response at the core of this book were originally papers delivered in a session of the Paul and Politics Group at the 2000 SBL Annual Meeting. There are a number of special features that make this a special combination of articles on Paul in what is turning out to be a highly suggestive new perspective and context, the ancient Roman imperial order. First, these articles are all informed by and respond in some way to the ground-breaking work of Simon Price on the Roman imperial cult in Greek cities, some of the very cities in which Paul carried out his mission. Invited as a special guest of the SBL for the 2000 Annual Meeting, Price was the respondent to these papers and interaction with him has aided the authors in their revisions. The articles bring a rich variety of fresh perspectives to issues of the relation of Paul and the Roman imperial order, including postcolonial theory, political-anthropological theory (James C. Scott), postcolonial theory, and feminist theory, along with the new perspective on the imperial cult represented by Price. This collection of articles thus stands at the cutting edge of new scholarship on Pauls mission and letters in his political and cultural context. Contributors for this book include Robert Jewett, Abraham Smith, Neil Elliott, Rollin A. Ramsaran, Efrain Agosto, Erik Heen, Jennifer Wright Knust, and Simon R. F. Price, Richard A. Horsley is Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and the Study of Religion at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, and the author of Paul and Politics: Ekklesia, Israel, Imperium, Interpretation and Paul and Empire: Religion and Power in Roman Imperial Society. "Probably no one more than Richard Horsley has so heightened our awareness of the importance of political and economic issues inhering in - and not merely framing - the early Jesus movement and the letters of Paul. This volume of essays that he edits bring together seasoned, creative scholars to consider these issues and to be engaged by Simon Price, Fellow and Tutor in Ancient History (Oxford), in a quite engaging way. This nice fruit of the Paul and Politics Group of the Society of Biblical Literature brings makes consideration of the Roman Imperial Order quite provocative and exciting, and the fruit is accessible and nourishing to students at all levels." Calvin J. Roetzel, Arnold Lowe Professor of Religious Studies, Macalester College--Sanford Lakoff "Reading Paul in the context of resistance to the Roman imperial order (rather than as a critic of Judaism) has led to a revolution in Pauline studies. In this volume, Richard Horsley adds to his already distinquished group of edited volumes that demonstrate the dramatic new insights that result from this socio-political context for understanding the ministry of the apostle Paul." Rosemary Radford Ruether, Carpenter Professor of Feminist Theology, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, California--Sanford Lakoff "Richard Horsley's scholarly work forced us to abandon "the unhistorical quest for the apolitical Jesus." Now he has turned his attention to "the unhistorical portrayal of an apolitical Paul." The collection of essays in this volume contextualizes Paul in the Roman imperial order of the first century. The contributors to this volume offer fresh and unexpected readings of familiar passages while providing richly textured information about the context of Paul's letters and struggles. This is a "must read" for anyone interested in the setting of Paul and his letters." William R. Herzog II, Sallie Knowles Crozer Professor of New Testament Interpretation, Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School--Sanford Lakoff "This fine collection of cutting edge scholarship continues the important task of re-locating Paul, not as an opponent of Judaism but as an opponent of Rome's imperial order: its claims, sanctions, and societal experience encountered in the empire's provincial cities." Warren Carter, Ph.D., Pherigo Professor New Testament Saint Paul School of Theology--Sanford Lakoff "With his latest volume, Horsley continues the work of challenging Pauline scholars to attend to other fields of study in this case, Roman Imperial history that have the potential to shatter the traditional theological orientation to Paul. The essays in this volume do not merely provide background from the Roman context; rather, they offer exceptionally original interpretations of Pauline texts and themes by foregrounding key aspects of Imperial Rome, and they make for exciting and provocative reading as a result! Pamela Eisenbaum, --Sanford Lakoff "Adopting the perspective that "Paul's gospel of Christ" was opposed to the Roman Empire rather than to Judaism, each paper explores specific underlying anti-imperial issues in Paul's letters."" Religious Studies Review Vol. 31 Issue 1&2, "January/April, 2005"" ."..offers rich potential for new models for reading of Paul, potential which could participate in a complete re-im