Paul's Literary World

I recently came across this essay by Porter from the SBL Paul and Scripture Seminar home page. He addresses the socio/cultural environment of Paul's day with special attention to his geographical context (both Tarsus and Jerusalem). His primary purview here is engaging this topic as a means to the end of understanding Paul's implementation of intertextual practices. While it's useful for this purpose, it's also just plain fascinating for illuminating the world of the First Century (I actually finished the whole thing before posting this!). There's also a fantastic bibliography on Paul and Scripture here.