Category: Article Links (Page 4 of 6)

The Impact of the Incoherence & Inauthenticity Argument

June 30, 2016 / Ray Van Neste

I just discovered that my article, “Authorship and Coherence in 1 Timothy,” was published in December in the Global Journal of Classic Theology. The article is a version of a paper originally delivered at the Pastoral Epistles study group at the Evangelical Theological Society annual meeting. It is a brief examination of some of theological convictions behind the turn in academia against 1 Timothy (and the Pastorals in general). Here is the abstract:

Abstract: This brief essay surveys the move away from confidence in the Pauline authorship towards increasing marginalization of all the Pastoral Epistles today. Critics of Schleiermacher in the 1800’s warned that his arguments against 1 Timothy would lead to further drift from orthodoxy. Though those critiques were derided at the time, the warnings have proven true. We need a renewed evaluation of what has been missed in evangelical scholarship by too easily leaving the Pastoral Epistles out of our conversations on Paul.

New Article on 1 Tim 5:9-16 by Dillon Thornton

March 29, 2016 / Ray Van Neste

I have previously mentioned the excellent paper by Dillon Thornton presented at our meeting of the Pastoral Epistles group at ETS last year. The paper, titled ” ‘Saying What They Should Not Say’: Reassessing the Gravity of the Problem of the Younger Widows (1 Tim 5:9-16 )” has just been published in the most recent issue of JETS. You can see the paper here.

Pastoral Epistles Publications in 2015

January 20, 2016 / Ray Van Neste

Chuck Bumgardner has once again done us the wonderful service of compiling a list of publications from the year. This is an excellent resource for anyone trying to stay abreast of scholarship on the Pastorals. Notice at the end the brief list of dissertations and reprints. If you know of an item that should be added to the list please let us know by sending us an email at pastoralepistles at gmail dot com.

Ackerman, David Allen. “Atonement and Community Reconciliation in Paul’s Letters: The Shame of the Cross as the Means for Restoration.” Wesleyan Theological Journal 50/1 (2015): 83-99. (addresses 1 Tim 1:18-20; 2 Tim 2:25-26; Titus 3:9-10)

Dionson, Herman. “1 Timothy 4:6-16: Towards a Theology of Encouragement.” Asian Journal of Pentecostal Studies 18/2 (2015): 7-21.

Dragutinović, Predrag. “Die Schrift im Dienst der gesunden Lehre. Text-pragmatische Erwägungen zu 2 Tim 3,14-17.” Annali di Storia dell’Esegesi 32 (2015): 309-24.

Emerson, Matthew Y. “Paul’s Eschatological Outlook in the Pastoral Epistles.” Criswell Theological Review n.s. 12 (2015): 83-98.

Glahn, Sandra L. “The First-Century Ephesian Artemis: Ramifications of Her Identity.” Bibliotheca Sacra 172.688 (2015): 450-69.

Hoag, Gary G. Wealth in Ancient Ephesus and the First Letter to Timothy: Fresh Insights from Ephesiaca by Xenophon of Ephesus. BBR Supplement Series. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2015.

Houwelingen, Rob van. “Meaning and Significance of the Instruction about Women in 1 Timothy 2:12-15.” Sárospataki Füzetek 19:4 (2015): 59-71.

Hübner, Jamin. “Revisiting αὐθεντέω in 1 Timothy 2:12: What Does the Extant Data Really Show?” The Journal for the Study of Paul and His Letters 4 (2015): 41-70.

________. “Translating αὐθεντέω (authenteō) in 1 Timothy 2:12.” Priscilla Papers 29.2 (2015): 16-26.

Hunter, David G. ” ‘A Man of One Wife:’ Patristic Interpretations of 1 Timothy 3:2, 3:12, and Titus 1:6 and the Making of Christian Priesthood.” Annali di storia dell’esegesi 32 (2015): 333-52.

Hylen, Susan E. A Modest Apostle: Thecla and the History of Women in the Early Church. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015.

Long, Frederick J. “A Wife in Relation to a Husband: Greek Discourse Pragmatic and Cultural Evidence for Interpreting 1 Tim 2:11-15.“ The Journal of Inductive Bible Studies 2/2 (2015): 6-43. Online: https://issuu.com/asburytheologicalseminary/docs/snyder_version_2_watermarked?e=4513495/31292055

Meiser, Martin. “Timothy in Acts: Patristic Reception.” Annali di Storia dell’Esegesi 32 (2015): 325-32.

Munger, Scott. “Women, the Church, and Bible Translation: Key Passages, Issues, and Interpretive Options.” Priscilla Papers 29/2 (2015): 6-13.

Nicklas, Tobias. “The Pastoral Epistles and Their Reception.” Annali di Storia dell’Esegesi 32 (2015): 285-86.

Porter, Stanley E. “1 Timothy 2:8: Holy Hands or Holy Raising?” Pages 339-346 in Linguistic Analysis of the Greek New Testament: Studies in Tools, Methods, and Practice. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2015.

Smit, Peter-Ben. “Back to the Future—Aspekte der Pseudepigraphie des Titusbriefes und ihre Bedeutung.” Pages 341–61 in Wie Geschichten Geschichte schreiben: Frühchristliche Literatur zwischen Faktualität und Fiktionalität: Eine Einführung. Edited by Susanne Luther, Jörg Röder, and Eckart D. Schmidt. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 2:395. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2015.

Sommer, Michael. “Witwen in 1 Tim 5. Eine subkulturelle Annäherung aus der Perspektive der Schriften Israels und ihrer Auswirkungen auf das frühe Christentum.” Annali di storia dell’esegesi 32 (2015): 287-307.

Theobald, Michael. “Vom Werden des Rechts in der Kirche: Beobachtungen zur Sprachform von Weisungen im Corpus Pastorale und bei Paulus.“ Zeitschrift für die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft 106 (2015): 65-95.

Wenkel, David H. “Lexicography to the Aid of a Problematic Pastoral Proverb: With What Should Christians Be Content in 1 Timothy 6.8?” The Bible Translator 66 (2015): 73-90.

Zamfir, Korinna. “Women Teaching—Spiritually Washing the Feet of the Saints? The Early Christian Reception of 1 Timothy 2:11-12.” Annali di Storia dell’Esegesi 32 (2015): 352-79.

2015 PE-related dissertations:

Hoklotubbe, T. Christopher. “The Rhetoric of Pietas: The Pastoral Epistles and Claims to Piety in the Roman Empire.” Th.D. diss., Harvard Divinity School, 2015.

Thornton, Dillon. “Hostility in the House of God: An ‘Interested’ Investigation of the Opponents in 1 and 2 Timothy.” Ph.D. diss., University of Otago, 2015. Online: https://ourarchive.otago.ac.nz/bitstream/handle/10523/5576/ThorntonDillonT2015PhD.pdf.

2015 reprints of important PE works:

Donelson, Lewis R. Pseudepigraphy and Ethical Arguments in the Pastorals. Hermeneutische Untersuchungen zur Theologie 22. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1986. Reprint, Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2015.

Hanson, A. T. Studies in the Pastoral Epistles. London: S.P.C.K., 1968. Reprint, Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2015.

Towner, Philip H. The Goal of Our Instruction: The Structure of Theology and Ethics in the Pastoral Epistles. Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement Series 34. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic, 1989. Reprint, Bloomsbury Academic Collections. New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2015.

Yet More Additions to the 2014 List

January 13, 2016 / Ray Van Neste

Chuck Bumgardner continues to put us in his debt gathering these bibliographical lists. Soon we will post his list of PE related publications for 2015, but first here are some additions to the 2014 list which he has just sent in. [these have now been added to the original 2014 list post]

Downs, David J. “Pauline Ecclesiology.” Perspectives in Religious Studies 41 (2014): 243-255. (Downs includes the Pastorals as Pauline)

Giambrone, Anthony. “‘According to the Commandment’ (Did. 1.5): Lexical Reflections on Almsgiving as ‘The Commandment.’” New Testament Studies 60 (2014): 448-465. (This builds on Nathan Eubank, “Almsgiving Is ‘the Commandment’: A Note on 1 Timothy 6.6–19,” NTS 58 [2012]: 144–150.)

Gonçaves, Ailton de Souza Gonçalves, Danilo Dourado Guerra, and Érika Rejane Rodrigues de Souza Fideles. “Hermenêuticas no Novo Testamento: olhares, experiências e temporalidades.” Caminhando 19/1 (2014): 27-40. Online: www.metodista.br/revistas/revistas-metodista/index.php/CA/article/view/4779/4261 (highlights 1 Tim 2:9-15)

Klein, Hans. “Paulus als Verkündiger, Apostel und Lehrer in den Pastoralbriefen.” Sacra Scripta 12 (2014): 43-63.

Mazzinghi, Luca. “Tempo de riforma: Leggere la Bibbia lungo i tempi. Il volto di Dio.” Rassenga di Teologia 55 (2014): 673-88.

Sorum, E. Allen. “Man or Servant in 2 Timothy 3:17?” Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly 111/2 (2014): 108-14.

Theobald, Michael. “Versöhnung im Gemeindebezug—Gnade durch Regeln? Biblisch-frühkirchliche Reminiszenzen.“ Theologische Quartalschrift 194 (2014): 171-89.

Fred Sanders, Moral Beauty in the Pastoral Epistles

March 10, 2015 / Ray Van Neste

Fred Sanders, well known for his work on the Trinity, has been recently working with the Pastoral Epistles and his post, “Moral Beauty in the Pastoral Epistles,” is well worth reading. He reflects on Chapter 5 of Ceslaus Spicq’s 1963 The Trinity and our Moral Life, a book which I must confess I have not read. Sanders notes how richly Spicq draws from the the Pastorals in his discussion of the beauty of the moral life and suggests this ethical discussion may be part of the reason for the distinct vocabulary of the Pastorals.

Sanders writes:

This is the gospel expressed not just with the change of a few words into a more hellenistic moral vocabulary, but in a way that actually lays hold of and commandeers what is best in that ancient pagan tradition. The unique vocabulary that Paul used in these letters to his deputies, the half-gentile Timothy and the fully-gentile Titus, is a bold missionary appropriation of Greek ethics.

The full post is well worth reading.

PE Publications in 2014

January 5, 2015 / Ray Van Neste

2014 was a good year for publications related to the Pastoral Epistles. Chuck Bumgardner has once again done us the wonderful service of compiling a list of publications from the year. This is an excellent resource for anyone trying to stay abreast of scholarship on the Pastorals. If you know of an item that should be added to the list please let us know by sending us an email at pastoralepistles at gmail dot com.

[UPDATED]

Barentsen, Jack. “Stereotyping and Institutionalization as Indications of Leadership Maintenance in the Pastoral Epistles: 1 Timothy as a Test Case.” Pages 389-406 in T&T Clark Handbook to Social Identity in the New Testament. Edited by J. Brian Tucker and Coleman A. Baker. London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2014.

Beale, G. K., and Benjamin L. Gladd. “The Use of Mystery in 1 Timothy.” Pages 237-59 in Hidden But Now Revealed: A Biblical Theology of Mystery. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2014.

Bolt, Peter and Tony Payne, ed. Women, Sermons and the Bible: Essays interacting with John Dickson’s Hearing Her Voice. Matthias Media, 2014.

Broer, Ingo. “Täuschungsabsicht in den kanonischen Schriften? Ein Problembericht.” Pages 233-52 in Lukas—Paulus—Pastoralbriefe: Festschrift für Alfons Weiser zum 80. Geburtstag. Edited by Rudolfe Hoppe and Michael Reichardt. Stuttgarter Bibelstudien 230. Stuttgart: Katholisches Bibelwerk, 2014.

Brown, Peter Dunstan. “The Use of Ransom Language in 1 Timothy 2:1-7 and Titus 2:11-14.” Ph.D. diss., The Catholic University of America, 2014.

Campbell, Douglas A. “Locating Titus and 1 and 2 Timothy.” Pages 339-403 in Framing Paul: An Epistolary Biography. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2014.

Carson, D. A. “Editorial: Do the Work of an Evangelist.” Themelios 39/1 (2014): 1–4.

Clark, Matthew. “The Pastoral Epistles.” Pages 213-25 in A Biblical Theology of the Holy Spirit. Edited by Trevor J. Burke and Keith Warrington. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2014.

Dickson, John. Hearing Her Voice: A Biblical Invitation for Women to Preach. Fresh Perspectives on Women in Ministry. Revised edition. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2014.

Downs, David J. “Pauline Ecclesiology.” Perspectives in Religious Studies 41 (2014): 243-255. (Downs includes the Pastorals as Pauline)

Giambrone, Anthony. “‘According to the Commandment’ (Did. 1.5): Lexical Reflections on Almsgiving as ‘The Commandment.’” New Testament Studies 60 (2014): 448-465. (This builds on Nathan Eubank, “Almsgiving Is ‘the Commandment’: A Note on 1 Timothy 6.6–19,” NTS 58 [2012]: 144–150.)

Gonçaves, Ailton de Souza Gonçalves, Danilo Dourado Guerra, and Érika Rejane Rodrigues de Souza Fideles. “Hermenêuticas no Novo Testamento: olhares, experiências e temporalidades.” Caminhando 19/1 (2014): 27-40. Online: www.metodista.br/revistas/revistas-metodista/index.php/CA/article/view/4779/4261 (highlights 1 Tim 2:9-15)

Gray, Patrick. “Perspectives on Paul the Sinner.” Bulletin for Biblical Research 24 (2014): 45-55.

Hall, Katharine German. “Response to 1 Timothy 2:11-12 or Its Parallel 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 by Three Sixteenth-Century Protestant Woman Theologians: Argula von Grumbach, Marie Dentiére, and Anne Askew.” LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations, Paper 141. Loyola Marymount University, 2014. Online: https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1143&context=etd.

Hausoul, Raymond R. “Leven in Godsvrucht: Een woordstudie.” Soteria 31 (2014): 40-47.

Herzer, Jens. “Den guten Kampf gekämpft: Das Ende des Paulus im Spiegel des Zweiten timotheusbriefes und der frühchristlichen Überlieferung.” Pages 339-69 in Lukas—Paulus—Pastoralbriefe: Festschrift für Alfons Weiser zum 80. Geburtstag. Edited by Rudolfe Hoppe and Michael Reichardt. Stuttgarter Bibelstudien 230. Stuttgart: Katholisches Bibelwerk, 2014.

________. “The Mission and the End of Paul Between Strategy and Reality: A Response to Rainer Riesner.” In The Last Years of Paul: Essays from the Tarragona Conference, June 2013. Edited by John M. G. Barclay, Jörg Frey, and Armand Puig i Tàrrech. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2014.

________. “Was ist falsch an der ‘fälschlich so genannten Gnosis’? Zur Paulusrezeption des 1. Timotheusbriefes im Kontext seiner Gegnerpolemik.” Early Christianity 5 (2014): 68-96.

Houwelingen, Rob van. “Paul’s Injunction about Women: A Response [to Gerhard H. Visscher].” Pages 155-67 in Correctly Handling the Word of Truth: Reformed Hermeneutics Today. Edited by Mees te Velde and Gerhard H. Visscher. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2014.

Hübner, Jamin. A Case for Female Deacons. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2014.

Hutson, Christopher. “‘Saved through Childbearing”: The Jewish Context of 1 Timothy.” Novum Testamentum 56 (2014): 392-410.

Hylen, Susan E. “Modest, Industrious, and Loyal: Reinterpreting Conflicting Evidence for Women’s Roles.” Biblical Theology Bulletin 44 (2014): 3-12.

Jones, B. C. “Three New Coptic Papyrus Fragments of 2 Timothy and Titus (P.Mich. inv. 3535b).” Journal of Biblical Literature 133 (2014): 389-97.

Kensky, Meira Z. “Timothy and ‘Timothy’: Crisis Management, Church Maintenance.” Early Christianity 5 (2014): 35-67.

Kidson, Lyn. “1 Timothy: An Administrative Letter.” Early Christianity 5 (2014): 97-116.

Klein, Hans. “Paulus als Verkündiger, Apostel und Lehrer in den Pastoralbriefen.” Sacra Scripta 12 (2014): 43-63.

Lips, Hermann von. “Paulus als ‘Erster’ in Sünde und Gnade: Überlegungen zu 1 Tim 1,15f.” Pages 303-14 in Lukas—Paulus—Pastoralbriefe: Festschrift für Alfons Weiser zum 80. Geburtstag. Edited by Rudolfe Hoppe and Michael Reichardt. Stuttgarter Bibelstudien 230. Stuttgart: Katholisches Bibelwerk, 2014.

MacDonald, Margaret Y. The Power of Children: The Construction of Christian Families in the Greco-Roman World. Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2014.

Massey, Preston T. “Cicero, the Pastoral Epistles, and the Issue of Pseudonymity.” Restoration Quarterly 56 (2014): 65-84.

Mazzinghi, Luca. “Tempo de riforma: Leggere la Bibbia lungo i tempi. Il volto di Dio.” Rassenga di Teologia 55 (2014): 673-88.

Mbamalu, Abiola I. “‘The Woman Was Deceived and Became a Sinner’: A Literary-Theological Investigation of 1 Timothy 2:11-15.” HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies 70 (2014). doi: 10.4102/hts.v70i3.2062.

Merkle, Benjamin L. “Are the Qualifications for Elders or Overseers Negotiable?” Bibliotheca Sacra 171 (2014): 172-88.

Oberlinner, Lorenz. “Paulus als Garant der Kontinuität in der diskontinuität christlichen Glaubenslebens des 1. Jh.: Zum Anspruch des pseudepigraphischen Verfassers der Pastoralbriefe.” Pages 253-70 in Lukas—Paulus—Pastoralbriefe: Festschrift für Alfons Weiser zum 80. Geburtstag. Edited by Rudolfe Hoppe and Michael Reichardt. Stuttgarter Bibelstudien 230. Stuttgart: Katholisches Bibelwerk, 2014.

Paya, C. “Note exégetique: ‘L’exercise corporel est utile à peu de choses . . .’ (1 Tm 4.8).” Théologie Évangélique [Vaux-sur-Seine—Montreal] 13 (2014): 49-61.

Payne, Philip B. “Οὐδέ Combining Two Elements to Convey a Single Idea and 1 Timothy 2:12: Further Insights.” Missing Voices (special edition journal produced by Christians for Biblical Equality, 2014): 24-34.

Pao, David W. “Let No One Despise Your Youth: Church and World in the Pastoral Epistles.” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 57 (2014): 743-55.

Riesner, Rainer. “Paul’s Trial and End according to Second Timothy, 1 Clement, the Canon Muratori, and the Apocryphal Acts.” In The Last Years of Paul: Essays from the Tarragona Conference, June 2013. Edited by John M. G. Barclay, Jörg Frey, and Armand Puig i Tàrrech. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2014.

Robertson, Michael S. “Neophyte Pastors: Can Titus 1 Be Used to Justify Placing New Converts in the Office of Pastor?” Southwestern Theological Journal 57 (2014): 77-86.

Schreiber, Stefan. “Häresie im Kanon? Zum historischen Bild der dritten christlichen Generation.” Biblische Zeitschrift 58 (2014): 186-210.

Schreiner, Thomas R. “Overseeing and Serving the Church in the Pastoral and General Epistles.” Pages 89-118 in Shepherding God’s Flock: Biblical Leadership in the New Testament and Beyond. Edited by Benjamin L. Merkle and Thomas R. Schreiner. Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2014.

Serworwora, John Henry. “The Ecclesiology of Training for Trainers: The Issue of Method and I Timothy 3:6.” Great Commission Research Journal 6 (2014): 91-114.

Smith, Geoffrey S. “Doxography, Pseudo-Pauline Literature, and the Christian Heresy Catalogue.” Pages 1-48 in Guilt by Association: Heresy Catalogues in Early Christianity. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.

Solevåg, Anna Rebecca. “Prayer in Acts and the Pastoral Epistles: Intersections of Gender and Class.” In Early Christian Prayer and Identity Formation. Edited by Reidar Hvalvik and Karl Olav Sandnes. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 1.336. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2014.

Sorum, E. Allen. “Man or Servant in 2 Timothy 3:17?” Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly 111/2 (2014): 108-14.

Spencer, Aida Besançon. 2 Timothy and Titus. New Covenant Commentary Series. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2014.

Swinson, L. Timothy. What Is Scripture? Paul’s Use of Graphe in the Letters to Timothy. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2014.

Stewart, Alistair C. The Original Bishops: Office and Order in the First Christian Communities. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2014.

Stout, Stephen Oliver. Preach the Word: A Pauline Theology of Preaching Based on 2 Timothy 4:1-5. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2014.

Teske, Roland. “1 Timothy 2:4 and the Beginnings of the Massalian Controversy.” Pages 14-34 in Grace for Grace: The Debates after Augustine and Pelagius. Edited by Alexander Y. Hwang, Brian J. Matz, and Augustine Casiday. Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2014.

Theobald, Michael. “Eucharistische Anspielungen in der Weisung an die Reichen 1 Tim 6,17-19: Anfrage an ihre ‘individualethische’ Deutung.” Pages 315-38 in Lukas—Paulus—Pastoralbriefe: Festschrift für Alfons Weiser zum 80. Geburtstag. Edited by Rudolfe Hoppe and Michael Reichardt. Stuttgarter Bibelstudien 230. Stuttgart: Katholisches Bibelwerk, 2014.

________. “Glauben statt Grübeln: Zum Anti-Intellektualismus der Pastoralbriefe.” Early Christianity 5 (2014): 5-34.

________. “Versöhnung im Gemeindebezug—Gnade durch Regeln? Biblisch-frühkirchliche Reminiszenzen.“ Theologische Quartalschrift 194 (2014): 171-89.

Thompson, James W. “Discovering the Real Megachurch: Cosmic Church and House Church in the Disputed Letters.” Pages 199-220 in The Church According to Paul: Rediscovering the Community Conformed to Christ. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2014.

Thornton, Dillon. “Sin Seizing an Opportunity through the Commandments: The Law in 1 Tim 1:8-11 and Rom 6-8.” Horizons in Biblical Theology 36 (2014): 142-58.

Villalobos Mendoza, Manuel. When Men Were Not Men: Masculinity and Otherness in the Pastoral Epistles. Bible in the Modern World 62. Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix, 2014.

Visscher, Gerhard H. “1 Timothy 2:12-15: Is Paul’s Injunction about Women Still Valid?” and “Paul’s Injunction about Women: A Rejoinder.” Pages 142-54 and 168-70 in Correctly Handling the Word of Truth: Reformed Hermeneutics Today. Edited by Mees te Velde and Gerhard H. Visscher. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2014.

Weidemann, Hans-Ulrich. “Selbstbeherrschte Hausherren: Beobachtungen zur rhetorischen Funktion des Maskulinitätsideals in den Pastoralbriefen.” Pages 271-301 in Lukas—Paulus—Pastoralbriefe: Festschrift für Alfons Weiser zum 80. Geburtstag. Edited by Rudolfe Hoppe and Michael Reichardt. Stuttgarter Bibelstudien 230. Stuttgart: Katholisches Bibelwerk, 2014.

Weissenrieder, Annette. “What does σωθήσεθαιδὲδιὰτῆςτεκνογονίας‘to be saved by childbearing’ mean (1 Timothy 2:15)? Insights from Ancient Medical and Philosophical Texts.” Early Christianity 5 (2014): 313-36.

Westfall, Cynthia Long. “The Meaning of αὐθεντέω in 1 Timothy 2.12.” Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism 10 (2014): 138-73.

White, Benjamin L. Remembering Paul: Ancient and Modern Contests over the Image of the Apostle. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.

Wright, N. T. “The Biblical Case for Ordaining Women.” Pages 64-82 in Surprised by Scripture: Engaging Contemporary Issues. New York: HarperCollins, 2014.

Zamfir, Korinna. “Is the ekklēsia a Household (of God)? Reassessing the Notion of οἶκος θεοῦ in 1 Tim 3.15.” New Testament Studies 60 (2014): 511-28.

David Pao’s New Article in JETS

December 28, 2014 / Ray Van Neste

In the previous post about the meeting of the Pastoral Epistles Study Group at ETS I mentioned that David Pao’s paper was scheduled for publication in JETS. My copy of the December 2014 (57:4) issue of JETS just arrived, and Pao’s article, “Let No One Despise Your Youth: Church and World in the Pastoral Epistles” is on pages 743-55. It is well worth reading.

“Do the work of an evangelist”

September 15, 2014 / Ray Van Neste

This recent, brief essay by D. A. Carson in Themelios is helpful for unpacking what “the work of an evangelist” means in 2 Timothy 4:5 in practical terms. Very useful.

Assessing Schleiermacher on the Authorship of 1 Timothy

November 6, 2013 / Ray Van Neste

Friedrich Schleiermacher’s “Concerning the so-called first Letter of Paul to Timothy; a critical open letter to J. C. Gass” (1807) was a watershed piece in the history of the interpretation of the Pastoral Epistles, as he led the way in questioning the Pauline authorship of 1 Timothy. He argued particularly from the difference in vocabulary between 1 Timothy and other Pauline letters and from what he saw as an incoherent and discontinuous train of thought in 1 Timothy. Schleiermacher argued that 1 Timothy was created by drawing from 2 Timothy and Titus, whose authenticity he did not dispute.

In 1999 Hermann Patsch published a very helpful article which briefly summarized Schleiermacher’s arguments and how Schleiermacher’s work was received at the time.[1] Patsch summarizes all the significant contemporary reviews as well as the reviews of Heinrich Planck’s book which was written as a response to Schleiermacher.[2] I was pleased to discover the article is available online.

It was interesting to read that the early reviews of Schleiermacher were consistently negative. In fact, according to Patsch, Schleiermacher’s book was “more or less clearly torn to pieces, attacked in monographs.” De Wette was critical of several of Schleiermacher’s arguments but said: “He has seen what as yet no one saw: he demonstrates that the first letter to Timothy was not written by Paul.”

The debate seen in these reviews contains most of the same talking points found in the same debate today.

If you are doing any work on history of interpretation of the PE or the authorship question, this is a helpful article.

[1] Hermann Patsch, “The Fear of Deutero-Paulinism: The Reception of Friedrich Schleiermacher’s ‘Critical Open Letter’ concerning 1 Timothy,” Journal of Higher Criticism 6 (1999): 3-31

[2] Heinrich Ludwig Planck, Bemerkungen über den ersten Paulinischen Brief an den Timotheus in Beziehung auf das kritische Sendschreiben von Hrn. Prof. Fr. Schleiermacher (Göttingen: Röver, 1808).

History of Baptist Interpretation of Titus

November 4, 2013 / Ray Van Neste

After about a 5 year hiatus, the Journal of Baptist Studies has relaunched with a new website and an issue devoted entirely to the history of interpretation of the letter to Titus among Baptists. The Journal of Baptist studies is a peer-reviewed journal, published electronically and edited by Anthony Chute and Matthew Emerson. There is no charge for accessing the journal.

Here is the table of contents for the current issue (not including the book reviews):

Baptists, Pastors, and Titus 1: A History of Interpretation

By Ray Van Neste……………………………………………………………4

The Legality of Slavery in the Sight of God: Baptists and Their Use of Titus 2 to Defend Slavery

By Jeff Straub………………………………………………………………36

Reception History of Titus 3 in Baptist Life

By Anthony Chute………………………………………………………….64

Selected Baptist Bibliography on Titus

By Matthew Y. Emerson ……………………………………………………91

I think this issue will be of interest to scholars working on the Pastorals even if they are not Baptists. The essays trace the way one group of Christians have interpreted and applied this letter over the years. The focus is not simply on academic writing but how the texts were applied in the life of the church.

In my essay I was intrigued to find shifts in the way Baptist leaders interpreted references to plurality of pastors/elders, the use of alcohol, and the ‘believing” or “faithful” children in Titus 1:6.

I am interested in any thoughts readers have on these essays. Feel free to leave feedback in the comments.