Month: November 2011

P46 and the Pastoral Epistles

At the Society of Biblical Literature meeting Edgar Battad Ebojo presented a paper titled, “P46 with the Pastoral Epistles: A Misleading Proposal? Reinvestigating the Evidence of the Missing Last Pages of P46” P46 is an early significant document containing Paul’s letters (plus Hebrews) which is missing its last pages (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papyrus_46). It has commonly been stated that the document would not have had enough pages to include the Pastoral Epistles, and, therefore, this is evidence that the Pastorals were not considered Pauline at this early date. However, in 1988 Jeremy Duff published an article [“P46 and the Pastorals: A Misleading Consensus?” NTS 44 (1998): 578-590]
arguing that the Pastoral Epistles would fit because the scribe was beginning to squeeze more words in per page in the last pages we have.

Ebojo provided meticulous examination of P46, character count, per line, variations, etc. The detail was impressive. He demonstrated subjectivity in the work of much of the preceding discussion and ended with the suggestion that P46 is not the place to look for information on the authorship or canonicity of the Pastoral Epistles.

Ebojo’s work was exemplary in its detail and helpful in its modesty in its claims.

De as a Discourse Marker in 2 Timothy

I have mentioned previously the new section on the Pastorals which will begin this year at ETS.

It is often helpful to note other Pastoral Epistles related papers which are scheduled for ETS or SBL this year. I will be giving a paper in the Biblical Greek Language and Linguistics section titled “De as a Discourse Marker in 2 Timothy.” The other people involved in this session (Levinsohn, Runge, Sims, Westfall) are leading thinkers in linguistics and biblical studies, so I face this with some trepidation. I am sure I do not have the final word on de, but I have learned a lot in working on this paper. I hope it will contribute to the discussion on the Pastorals and our understanding of connectives.

Feel free to note other Pastorals related papers scheduled for these conferences in the comments. I hope to see many of you there.

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