The letters of Paul are among the most commonly cited biblical texts in ongoing cultural and religious disputes about gender, sexuality, and embodiment. Appalling Bodies reframes these uses of the letters by reaching past Paul toward other, far more fascinating figures that appear before, after, and within the letters. The letters repeat ancient stereotypes about women, eunuchs, slaves, and barbarians--in their Roman imperial setting, each of these overlapping groups were cast as debased, dangerous, and complicated.Joseph Marchal presents new ways for us to think about these dangers and complications with the help of queer theory. Appalling Bodies juxtaposes these ancient figures against recent figures of gender and sexual variation, in order to defamiliarize and reorient what can be known about both. The connections between the marginalization and stigmatization of these figures troubles the history, ethics, and politics of biblical interpretation. Ultimately, Marchal assembles and reintroduces us to Appalling Bodies from then and now, and the study of Paul's letters may never be the same.

AcknowledgmentsPrelude: Before and AfterRomosexualityQueer ReconfigurationsPast PaulAfter This BeforeChapter One: Touching Figures: Reaching Past PaulBetween Brooten and a Halperin PlaceHow to Get Stuck in "the Middle" with Sedgwick and ButlerToward Some Touching Connections?Chapter Two: A Close Corinthian Shave: Trans / AndrogyneCorinthian Citations, Pauline Performativity, and Echoes of AndrogynyAncient Androgyny, ReconsideredHair-Raising Androgyny and the Corinthian Assembly?Transgender and Other Mobilizations of MasculinityResembling and Assembling Female (Masculine) ProphetsChapter Three: Uncut Galatians: Intersex / Eunuch"They tried to write their Gospel on my body": Defining, Treating, ResistingAn Ancient Pal, Against Genital Cutting?A Cutting JokeFacing the Phallus, Cutting to the Fore(skin)"Don't Quote Ovid to Me" (and Don't Bother with Paul Either?)ConclusionChapter Four: Use: Bottom / SlaveThe Use of SlavesThe Use of Onesimus: Chresis and Consent, Puns and PatronsSwitching Biblical BondsOther Uses of HistoryHow Not to Race PastAttending to the PastWhipping Through TimeChapter Five: Assembled Gentiles: Terrorist / BarbarianExceptional SexualThe Epistles' ExceptionalismBarbarians, Among Other Perverse FiguresExceptionalism RulesAn Unexceptional PaulSome Alternative Assembly RequiredAnalogy, Anachronism, Assembly: A Contingent ConclusionEpilogue: Biblical DragBibliographyIndexes