Sep 22, 2020

Where Was Galatia and Who Were Considered Galatians?

Wrapped up in the seemingly innocuous question above is a much discussed debate about the dating of Paul's epistle to the Galatians and the correspondence of Galatians 2:1-10 and the book of Acts, most notably Acts 11:30/12:25 or Acts 15:1-35. The issues are complex and part of the discussion is sometimes simply framed in academic shorthand as the Northern or Southern Galatian views. I fall within the less popular Southern Galatian view and see correspondence between the Jerusalem visits noted Galatians 2 and Acts 11. So I was happy to see Mark Wilson's recent, brief but informative, article in Biblical Archaeology Review: "Galatia in Text, Geography, and Archaeology” (Fall 2020). The article's main contribution in my view is to provide inscriptional evidence that might support the Southern Galatian view. You can read a condensed version for free here but if you are interested in the topic, you should take a look at the complete article.

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