The Old Testament was created in periods of globalization, in the Persian and the Hellenistic-Roman period. The writings is a piece of memory work meant for creation of national or local identity and particularity in a global world, in the 1st millennium b.c.e. In a globalized world, counter-activity is always present, which focuses on the local, small tradition, the particular narrative, which creates its own way of coherence. The notion of "cultural memory" is used both in the humanities and in social science. Cultural memory appears as overwriting (palimpsests) and re-use of material artifacts, such as buildings, monuments, and texts, and of ritual practice. Memorization can be conscious or unconscious, incorporated in the body, and become visible material culture and monuments. The notion of landscape plays a crucial role in memory work, representing a special challenge in the project. People are never alone, but always relate to place, education, nation, family, religious and political groups, and so on. These collectives are the frames that direct people's comprehension of reality. This is the human context from which one also should look upon memory and remembrance.
Series of essays with a focus on the New Testament, edited by two prominent scholars in postcolonial criticism. In the chapter by Sze-kar Wan, The Letter to the Galatians, he explores the ethnic tension in the letter and the dangers of over-simplification when examining ethnic categories such as Jewish and Gentile. He further discusses how "Roman imperial discourse was ... revised and appropriated for the use of the Jerusalem Jesus-movement." A focus on how empire shapes a minority community and the power dynamics within the community itself. Bibliography could be expanded by examining the work of the individual authors.
