Category: Article Links (Page 2 of 6)

Towner, “Resonance, Dissonance, Resistance and 1 Timothy 2.8–15”

November 2, 2021 /

Phil Towner has added an essay to the voluminous literature on 1 Tim 2:8–15:

Philip H. Towner. “Resonance, Dissonance, Resistance and 1 Timothy 2.8–15: The Eschatological Obsolescence and ‘Rewriting’ of a Proscriptive Text.” Między Oryginałem a Przekładem 53.3 (2021): 67–84.

A PDF of the article (which is in English) may be obtained at https://journals.akademicka.pl/moap/article/view/3861 .

The article is a reworked version of Towner’s 2010 ETS presentation of nearly the same title. According to the introductory article in the journal, the essay was presented “in the Workshop on Contemporary Theory and Practice of Bible Translation, an interconfessional seminar which takes place at the Pontifical Urbaniana University at the beginning of every academic year.”

Abstract: “This study asks whether translation might be a valid mode of (literary)
criticism. It approaches a hortatory biblical text (1 Timothy 2.8-14 [3.1a]),
somewhat notoriously and rigidly applied in some quarters of the church
as containing timeless ethical instruction concerning women in the church,
from the standpoint of its intertextual network, listening for resonance and
dissonance as the relevant intertexts and precursor texts are explored. It
is ultimately diagnosed as a text that is eschatologically obsolescent, and
translated/rewritten, on the basis of its intertextual composition, to reflect
the openness inscribed by the authorial Other.”

Machado, “‘Manifestado na carne’ (1Tm 3,16)”

October 31, 2021 /

Sidney Machado, of the Faculdades Claretianas in Brazil, and visiting professor at the Pontifical Ateneo Santo Anselmo in Rome, has added to the extensive literature on 1 Timothy 3:16 with a recent article in Revista Pistis Praxis.

Sidney Damasio Machado. “‘Manifestado na carne’ (1Tm 3,16): Considerações sobre a transmissão damensagem cristã na Igreja primitive // ‘Manifested in the flesh’ (1Tm 3,16): Considerations on the Transmission of the Christian Message in the Early Church.” Revista Pistis Praxis 13.2 (2021): 758–85. (full-text article available at https://doi.org/10.7213/2175-1838.13.02.DS05)

The article is in Portuguese, but the abstract in English will provide guidance:

Abstract: The theme of epiphany/vision unifies most religious and philosophical expressions in the early Greco-Roman world. The use of the expression “manifested in the flesh” (“ἐφανερωθη ἐν σαρκί” (1Tm 3,16)) in the Pastoral Letters [is indicative] of the efforts of early Christianity to dialogue with the culture and inculturate the content of the Christian faith in the Hellenistic environment. Seeing the commitment to inculturated evangelization in the early Church constitutes an incentive and a provocation in view of an inculturated evangelization.

Torbus, “Oral Teachings of Old Women in 1 Timothy 4:7”

July 15, 2021 /

Sławomir Torbus is “a graduate of the Institute of Classical Philology and Ancient Culture at the University of Wroclaw.… He received his doctorate from the University of Wroclaw in 2004. He is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Hellenic Studies Institute of Classical Studies, Mediterranean and Oriental at the University of Wroclaw. He is a specialist in the history and theory of rhetoric and especially the analysis of the rhetoric of the New Testament.” (source)

He has a previous article on 1 Tim 4:7 in Polish (with an English-language abstract): “‘Baśnie starych kobiet’ w 1 Tm 4,7: Wokół interpretacji przymiotnika γραώδης [“‘Old Women’s Fables’ in 1 Tim. 4,7: Interpretations of the Adjective γραώδης”],” Theologica Wratislaviensia 10 (2015): 139–49. He has just published a second article (in English) which builds upon the first one:

Torbus, Sławomir. “Oral Teachings of Old Women in 1 Timothy 4:7.” Quaestiones Oralitatis 5 (2020): 133–43.

Abstract: “The paper attempts to consider the possibility that the expression γραώδεις μῦθοι used in 1 Timothy 4:7 might refer to oral teachings conveyed by older women in Ephesus. It can be observed that in the Pastoral Epistles, the word μῦθοι denotes false teachings which stand in sharp contrast with the truth contained in the written Scriptures. The context of 1 Timothy may suggest the possibility that older women could convey such oral teachings in the space of the οἶκος, which was a natural ecclesiastical environment of the earliest Christian church.”

Both articles are available at Academia.

Burnet, “Petit fait vrai et construction du personnage: Réflexions sur 2Tm 4,13”

July 14, 2021 /

We have not yet provided notice of a recent addition to the literature by Regis Burnet. The article engages the conversation on pseudepigrapha, focusing on the example of personalia in 2 Tim 4:13 and commenting on the prominent attention given to the φαιλόνης when the fathers discuss the passage.

Burnet, Régis. “Petit fait vrai et construction du personnage: Réflexions sur 2Tm 4,13.” Pages 331–42 in La contribution du discours a la caracterisation des personnages bibliques: Neuvieme colloque international due RRENAB, Louvain-la-Neuve, 31 mai – 2 juin 2018. Edited by André Wénin. Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium 311. Leuven: Peeters, 2020.

The essay is available on Academia.

Tomczyk, “Wealth as Generosity in Giving: Linguistic and Theological Study of 1Tim 6:17–19”

July 8, 2021 /

I gratefully acknowledge the help of Dominik Tomczyk for his assistance in all things Pastorals-related in the Polish language (and there are many!). He has recently published an article on 1 Timothy 6:17–19 (which happens to connect topically with this year’s ETS theme):

Tomczyk, Dominik. “Bogactwo jako hojność dawania. Analiza lingwistyczno-teologiczna 1Tm 6,17–19 / Wealth as Generosity in Giving: Linguistic and Theological Study of 1Tm 6:17–19.” Wrocławski Przegląd Teologiczny [Wrocław Theological Review] 29.1 (2021): 71–93.

The article is in Polish, but has an English-language abstract (reproduced below), and I found that the pdf translated reasonably well using Google Translate — enough to get the gist of the article. Note also that in the first footnote there is a good bibliography of earlier treatments of the article’s passage of interest. The article is available at Academia.

Abstract: The author of the article provides a linguistic and theological study of
the text from 1Tm 6:17-19, which is a sort of “instruction” offered by the author of the Letter on the Christian attitude towards wealth. Each one of these three verses is analysed separately. The paper draws the reader’s attention to the fact that the material riches owned by a man is a gift from God and brings with itself a threefold accountability: to man, to society and to God. The text under study underlines two main components of wealth which are captured by the adjectives εὐμετάδοτος (generosity beyond measure) and κοινωνικός (the social dimension of wealth). God’s intention for providing men with tangible assets (wealth) is, primarily, doing good to others, also by generous sharing of their possessions. We should perceive wealth from the eschatological point of view which ought to influence the present attitude of wealthy people. A rich man should put his trust not in ephemeral and temporary things but in God who is everlasting and eternal. He is the source of all abundance and wealth. Rich Christians should imitate God in His universal attitude of sharing with everybody.

McKnight, “From Timely Exegesis to Contemporary Ecclesiology”

May 15, 2021 /

I list here an article which falls under the category of “hidden contributions to Pastorals scholarship”:

Scot McKnight, “From Timely Exegesis to Contemporary Ecclesiology: Relevant Hermeneutics and Provocative Embodiment of Faith in a Corona-Defined World – Generosity During a Pandemic.” HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies 77.4 (2021): a6426. https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v77i4.6426

The article engages the Pastorals in a discussion of generosity and humanitarian concern for the poor (pp. 2-3). McKnight is slated to produce a commentary on the Pastorals in the New Cambridge Bible Commentary.

Bibliography of 2020 (and Early 2021) Publications on the Pastorals

March 26, 2021 /

We have compiled our annual bibliography of recent publications on the Letters to Timothy and Titus, covering contributions from all of 2020 and early 2021. Over 100 items long, and international in scope, the list contains monographs, journal articles, and commentaries, as well as lists of conference presentations and dissertations on the letters. It is available for viewing and downloading here.

Wedgeworth, “Good and Proper: Paul’s Use of Nature, Custom, and Decorum in Pastoral Theology”

February 3, 2021 /

An interesting article which could be considered a “hidden contribution to Pastorals scholarship“:

Wedgeworth, Steven. “Good and Proper: Paul’s Use of Nature, Custom, and Decorum in Pastoral Theology.” Eikon: A Journal for Biblical Anthropology 2.2 (2020): 88–97.

Eikon is the journal of the Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, formally known as the Journal of Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. Wedgeworth’s article uses 1 Tim 2:8-15 as its primary text, thus contributing to the ever-increasing literature on that passage.

The essay does not have an abstract, but an excerpt from the beginning will serve to summarize: “This essay will investigate to what extent the Apostle Paul uses a sort of natural-law reasoning in his argument against women teaching or holding an office of authority in the church. The primary textual subject will be 1 Timothy 2:8–15, but parallel New Testament passages will be considered insofar as they provide additional support for understanding the logic of Paul’s argument. I will argue that Paul is making a kind of natural law argument, by way of custom and decorum. This is not a simple appeal to human intuition, neither is it a generalized observation of empirical data taken from nature. It is, however, an argument based on the concepts of basic honor to authority figures, an element of the natural law, and the social power of decorum, of what is proper or fitting for social relationships between men and women. These are concepts grounded in a particular philosophy of nature and the morally formative role of custom. While appropriately using language and categories from the creation order, Paul is indeed employing a particular kind of natural-law application of this biblical account in order to prescribe customary social relations between men and women in the church.”

The full issue of Eikon which includes Wedgeworth’s article is here, and an online version of the full article is here.

Adebayo, “The Politics of the Term γραφή in the Pastoral Epistles”

January 22, 2021 /

Oluwarotimi Paul Adebayo has produced an article addressing the referent of γραφή in its two occurrences in the Letters to Timothy:

Adebayo, Oluwarotimi Paul. “The Politics of the Term γραφή in the Pastoral Epistles.” Scriptura 119.2 (2020): 1–11.

The article may be found online here.

Abstract: “The understanding of the term Scripture in early Christianity is best described as an evolving concept that can be categorised into various stages. This can best be seen in the most popular Greek term the NT uses in designating Scripture, γραφή and its cognates. Γραφή was used 50 times in the NT to represent Scripture, and in each of these instances, it refers to more than just a mere writing which is what the term originally meant in Greek prior to the NT’s consistent use of it as a technical term for sacred writing.
“This study attempts to reflect briefly on (part of) the evolution γραφή underwent on the pages of the NT especially within the Pastoral Epistles (PE) – a product of the early second century CE. This study bears in mind that the recognition of books as Scripture is not a series of clearly defined steps, but rather a long and complicated process involving creativity and powerplay. This study therefore serves to enhance a more accurate understanding of the transition the concept of Scripture in the PE, most especially pertaining to the use of the term γραφή.
“The question regarding the scope of the term γραφή in the NT and especially in the PE is open to debate – especially the use of the two different words, ἱερὰ γράμματα and γραφή for Scripture in 2 Tim. 3:15–16. So is the reference to Jesus’ words as Scripture in 1 Tim. 5:18. These have raised questions of a possible shift in the PE’s understanding of γραφή. “Findings from this research include the extensive use of γραφή in the PE to accommodate more than just the Jewish Scripture, as it has evolved to include emerging earlier writings of the NT; the author of the PE was creative in adopting and adapting to a new understanding of sacred writings which serves the context of his time.
“This unveils the influence a community exerts on recognition of authoritative Scripture while teasing out the politics intertwined in the recognition of Scripture and the identity of a people, as this later became the path to canonicity of Scripture.”

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