Argues against views that the unity formula employed in "Gal 3.28", "1 Cor 12.13" and "Col 3.11" reflects either a Hellenistic anthropology of ideal androgyny or a modern liberal conception of social equality. This book employs theories from Ethnic study as tools for assessing how such overlapping identities persist and interact with one another.

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION; The Formula; Previous Interpretive Approaches; Ethnic Unity and Paul; Summary; CHAPTER TWO: READING PAUL ETHNICALLY; Defining Ethnicity; Genealogy and Autochthony; Indices of the Genealogical Criteria; Ethnic Discourse; Acculturation, Assimilation and Ethnogenesis; Summary; CHAPTER THREE: GAL 3:28 AND THE HOUSEHOLD OF FAITH; Introduction: Gal 3:28 in Epistolary Context; Disunity in Jerusalem and Antioch: Gal 2:1-14; Paul's Speech: Gal 2:14c-21; Urging Unity: Gal 5-6; Social Identity in Apocalyptic Perspective; Gal 3-4: Identity and Unity in Christ; Ethnic Identity; Summary; CHAPTER FOUR: 1 COR 12:13 AND THE BODY OF CHRIST; Introduction; Ethnicity among Images for Unity; Ethnic Identity and the Unity Formula in Paul's Parenesis: 1 Cor 5-14; Summary; CHAPTER FIVE: COL 3:11 AND THE NEW HUMANITY; Introduction; Social Identity and Solidarity in Col 1:1-2:23; 3:1-4:6: Seeking Unity in Christ; Unity as Ethnic Solidarity; Ethnic Criterion of Genealogy; Confirming Indices of Ethnicity; Summary; CHAPTER SIX: CONCLUSIONS; The Aims and Methodology of this Study; Conclusions of this Study.