Jesus as Divine Suicide: The Death of the Messiah in Galatians

Jesus as Divine Suicide makes the argument the death of Jesus follows established and well-known models of self-sacrificing individuals a model readily available to Roman and Jewish audiences. Paul in his letter to the church in Galatia uses this model to present a premeditated self-chosen death meant to bring about a change in the cosmos. Watts understanding the emotional attachment to the word is careful to construct his argument based on a plethora of examples within Pauls reach if not the reach of Jesus. The concept of devotio is explored using recent scholarship and examples are drawn from Jewish and Roman sources with the intention to show that not only did Paul use it but that it may help to solve some of the questions scholars have raised as to who gave Paul his language of the death of Jesus. Watts goes on to argue the gruesome act of a self-caused death would have not only been allowed even by Jewish sources but also would have had theological speculation supplied by the history of the devotion so that with minimal description Paul is able to use the act as a way to make his argument for his gospel in Galatians.