PhD Oral Exam - Joseph Brito, Religions and Cultures

When studying for a doctoral degree (PhD), candidates submit a thesis that provides a critical review of the current state of knowledge of the thesis subject as well as the student’s own contributions to the subject. The distinguishing criterion of doctoral graduate research is a significant and original contribution to knowledge.

Once accepted, the candidate presents the thesis orally. This oral exam is open to the public.

Abstract

The present dissertation offers a LatinX hermeneutical lens on Galatians 1:13-16a, framing Paul as a mestizo – not in terms of race but as theorized in cultural studies. I therefore locate Paul as an individual born in a Jewish diaspora under a Roman imperial context and caught between political and cultural structures, yet shaped by Jewish ancestral traditions and simultaneously commissioned for a gentile mission. I argue that Paul finds himself in a space of in-betweenness, or what Gloria Anzaldúa defines as nepantla, navigating between competing and contrasting matrices of values. I propose a postcolonial and LatinX analysis of Galatians 1:13-16a and I use Gloria Anzaldúa's concept of nepantla as a theoretical framework for investigating Paul's autohistoria (trans: autobiography). As a methodology, I introduce a border-reading methodology that aims at situating the author of the Letter to the Galatians as a border individual, caught between two dominant cultures (Roman and Hellenistic) and the struggles of the Jewish diasporas to defend religious and cultural boundaries. The first chapter begins by mapping the field of postcolonial studies, focusing on the concept of hybridity, and puts these theories in conversation with Anzaldúa’s concept of nepantla as presented in her book "Borderlands/La Frontera" (1987), arguing that, prior to the establishment of hybrid identities, individuals often find themselves navigating between contending cultures. The second chapter examines Jewish diasporas during the Second Temple Period, highlighting the socio-political realities Jewish diasporas were subjected to, especially considering the tensions between Hellenistic civic institutions and Jewish politeumata (semi-autonomous and legal civic associations) in several urban centers. Central to this dissertation is the way Josephus and Philo often justified the existence of Jewish politeumata as a means of keeping with their “ancestral traditions” or the “traditions of their fathers” – an expression employed by Paul in his autohistoria (Galatians 1:14). Finally, in light of the tensions Jewish diasporas faced and the way they upheld strong cultural boundaries to maintain their “ancestral traditions,” I proceed in chapter three with a border-reading aimed at analyzing how Paul frames his previous life “in Judaism” (1:13), his “zeal” for “ancestral traditions” (1:14), and the experience of the “revelation of [God’s] son” (1:16a). The argument presented is that the concept of nepantla allows us to interpret Paul’s autohistoria not as an account of rupture with his past, but rather an ongoing transformation: going from a persecutor of non-conforming Gentiles to a Jesus-believer, to then accepting of the inclusion of Gentiles, to at last becoming a strong defender of their inclusion. Furthermore, Paul’s zealous past can be best understood by looking at the socio-political dynamics of the Jewish diasporas during the Second Temple period, especially with the justification of Jewish politeumata in order to maintain their “ancestral traditions.” This dissertation contributes to the fields of LatinX biblical and theological studies, studies on Paul's autobiography, socio-historical studies on Jewish diasporas during the Second Temple period, postcolonial theory and identity formation under colonial hegemony, and cultural studies.