Includes bibliographical references (pages 583-619) and index.

I. THE MULTIPLE MEANINGS OF GIFT AND GRACE : -- The Anthropology and History of the Gift -- The Perfections of Gift/Grace -- Interpreting Paul on Grace: Shifting Patterns of Perfection -- II. DIVINE GIFT IN SECOND TEMPLE JUDAISM : -- The Wisdom of Solomon -- Philo of Alexandria -- The Qumran Hodayot -- Pseudo-Philo, Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum -- 4 Ezra -- The Diverse Dynamics of Grace in Second Temple Judaism -- III. GALATIANS: THE CHRIST-GIFT AND THE RECALIBRATION OF WORTH : -- Configuring Galatians -- The Christ-Gift and the Recalibration of Norms (Galatians 1-2) -- The Christ-Gift, the Law, and the Promise (Galatians 3:1-5:12, with 6:11-18) -- The New Community as the Expression of the Gift (Galatians 5:13-6:10) -- IV. ROMANS: ISRAEL, THE GENTILES, AND GOD'S CREATIVE GIFT : -- The Creative Gift and Its Fitting Result (Romans 1:1-5:11) -- New Life in Dying Bodies: Grace and the Construction of a Christian Habitus (Romans 5:12-8:39; 12:1-15:13) -- Israel, Christ, and the Creative Mercy of God (Romans 9-11).

John Barclay explores Pauline theology anew from the perspective of grace. Arguing that Paul's theology of grace is best approached in light of ancient notions of "gift," Barclay describes Paul's relationship to Judaism in a fresh way. Barclay focuses on divine gift-giving, which for Paul, he says, is focused and fulfilled in the gift of Christ. He both offers a new appraisal of Paul's theology of the Christ-event as gift as it comes to expression in Galatians and Romans and presents a nuanced and detailed consideration of the history of reception of Paul, including Augustine, Luther, Calvin, and Barth.

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