I study the apostle Paul’s letters in the New Testament in their Hellenistic-Jewish and Greco-Roman contexts. Research in recent years reveals significant connections between different ethnic and religious groups. These connections stand in contrast to the typically polemic and isolationist rhetoric of the elites. This scholarly focus sheds new light on the emergence of new religious, philosophical, legal and political systems. It similarly provides new perspectives on the creation processes of canonical texts. Paul is a paradigmatic case of such interculturality. A Hellenistic-Jew, he brings his proclamation, Jewish in essence, to a mostly non-Jewish audience. He operates mainly in the urban centers of the Greek East of the Roman empire. With a few short letters as his heritage, Paul changed the western world. I inquire into the religious and intellectual discourses of his time which made his message intelligible and appealing for his audience. My doctoral dissertation is focused on the incorporation of ideas of the Cynic philosophical school in Paul’s thought and writings. At the same time, I examine Pauline passages that deal with legal matters, or that employ legal terminology, in light of Roman law and its application in the provinces and in the colonies in the Greek East.