In Slavery With God's Children

Katherine H. Burgett examines three metaphors in Galatians that cast the law as enslaved: the law is an enslaved παιδαγωγός (3:19-25), an enslaved ἐπίτροπος and οἰκονόμος (4:1-11), and Hagar the enslaved παιδίσκη (4:21-31). Galatians famously depicts humanity's enslavement under the law, whereas the author focuses here on Paul's depictions of the Law as an enslaved enslaver, situating these metaphors in the complex context of first-century Roman slavery and drawing out their implications for Paul's theology of the law in Galatians. She argues that Paul uses these metaphors to make a series of claims about the law's agency in relation to other agents. Before the coming of faith, the law worked effectively with God in a preparatory role. But when the Galatians try to come under the law's authority after receiving the spirit, they end up frustrating both their own intentions and those of the law.

Chapter 1: Enslaved Agency in the Letters of Paul and Other Ancient Literature
Chapter 2: The Law was Our Παιδαγωγός
Chapter 3: Under Ἐπίτροποι and Οἰκονόμοι
Chapter 4: Children of Hagar the Παιδίσκη