The focus here is on texts, Pauline and texts invoked by Paul, and ever-present
imperial “super”-texts. The latter also establishes the context, as the social setting
of Paul’s letters with their rhetorical use of Othering was the Roman Empire with its
identity politics. The rhetorical power of Paul and his scriptural texts contributed to
discursive formations, since a strong sense of being and identity was negotiated
through these texts, even when admitting that such formations are always in
process, mutating and reformatting. Construing notions of Others was a particularly
important featur