Reading Galatians Right

Reading Romans Right came out well over a year ago. March 18, 2025, to be exact. And while the majority of the responses have been glowingly positive—probably due to the fact that most of Keith’s and my readers are open-minded and theologically progressive—there have been some harsh criticisms from those in more conservative camps.

“Classic leftist trope,” says Chad Earwood.

“I don’t recommend this book,” writes Kristina Lewin.

“Book should be called Reading Romans Left,” quips “Massi” on Amazon.

Of course, if you’ve actually read Reading Romans Right, you’ll likely understand that nothing in that book is “classic” leftist theology—whatever that means to Chad. I doubt Mr. Earwood has read Douglas Campbell’s 1,200-page tome, The Deliverance of God. Or David Bentley Hart’s The New Testament: A Translation. Or Lucy Peppiatt’s Women and Worship in Corinth. Or Chris Tilling’s Paul’s Divine Christology. These are some of the books we draw from, and none of them are imbued with “classic” leftist tropes (does Chad even know what the word “trope” means?). Rather, they are highly respected academic works published by some of the most prolific traditional publishers of our day—Eerdmans, Yale, Cascade.

And now… Quoir.

Okay, I’m kidding, but only kind of.

While our little, punk rock publishing company doesn’t stand shoulder to shoulder with stalwarts like Eerdmans or Yale, it does value a well sought out truth, as well as the pursuit for the sake of the pursuit.

That’s why the Quoir Bible Series exists in the first place. We aren’t here to vomit out tropes of any kind, nor do we care to take a left vs. right perspective. This is especially true when commenting on someone as contentious as Paul. Do we value the apostle? Of course. Do we revere his writings from both an historical and theological perspective? No doubt. But is he the final authority in our lives? Definitely not! As we admit in Reading Romans Right, Paul’s writings “can in fact present us with some internal inconsistencies.” And further, we argue that he had “what we now understand to be harmful views of women.” So, again, Paul is a bit of a mixed bag who cannot escape the context in which he lives—but is this not true of all of us, both left and right?

Nevertheless, for those who valued our insights in Reading Romans Right—or, if this article is the first you’re hearing of the series, and you have an open mind—we hope that it’s follow-up enlightens you in some way. Personally, Paul’s letter to the Galatians it’s one of my favorites of his—and not just the part where he tells judgmental zealots to castrate themselves (5:12). This epistle is fiery, yet full of Christ’s love. Paul is pissed, but for good reason. And it will be Keith’s and my job to help elucidate for you just what is going on at this point in history to cause the apostle to be so irate.

Now, allow me to say two final things before I get back to writing this book: 1) you can expect this upcoming edition to be on the short end. Unlike the Epistle to the Romans, Paul’s letter to the Galatians is not chock full of multiple chapters of rhetorical arguments against hypothetical false teachers. It’s much more intimate than that. The church of Galatia is Paul’s. He knows these people, and gets down and dirty from the get-go.

Does this mean we are going to cut corners and rely on “leftist tropes” for our arguments. No! We will still be covering a lot of ground, both theologically and historically. So, strap in and get ready for such an adventure.

And 2) this will be the final book in the series written exclusively by Keith and me. After this offering, we are opening things up to friends of ours who are scholars, theologians, mystics, saints (and sinners), heretics, apostates, orthodox, heterodox, and everything in between. This is the Bible, after all. So, we must remember that the theology derived from it must be a conversation within a community, and what better community than the extended Quoir family?

So, I hope you look forward to this book—you too, Chad! The fact that you’ve read this article is hopefully a sign that you are willing to expand your knowledge and grow in areas not all Christians are willing to go. We thank you for that, and hope that we can deliver an exhilarating and refreshing look at yet another letter some love to hate and others hate to love. We hope you enjoy Reading Galatians Right (release date TBD).

You can also explore my books—including Heretic!, The Wisdom of Hobbits, and others—right here: https://quoir.com/authors/matthew-j-distefano/

Thanks for reading. Thanks for thinking. And thanks for refusing to settle for easy answers.