Category: Articles/Essays (Page 1 of 6)

Beale, “The Greco-Roman Background to ‘Fighting the Good Fight’ in the Pastoral Epistles and the Spiritual Life of the Christian”

G. K. Beale has generously mediated his recent ZNW article through a light rewriting of it in Themelios:

G. K. Beale, “The Background to ‘Fight the Good Fight’ in 1 Timothy 1:18, 6:12, and 2 Timothy 4:7.” Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft 113.2 (2022): 202–30.

G. K. Beale, “The Greco-Roman Background to ‘Fighting the Good Fight’ in the Pastoral Epistles and the Spiritual Life of the Christian.” Themelios 48.3 (2023): 541–51.

The Themelios article is freely available here. Here’s the abstract:

“What does Paul mean by the expression “fight the fight” in 1 Timothy 1:18 (NASB)? The Greek verb στρατεύω with the noun στρατεία can be also rendered “battle the battle,” or more generally “perform military service” or “serve in a military campaign.” This expression occurs often in Greco-Roman literature as a patriotic warfare idiom for good character revealed by persevering through warfare or military campaigns. It also occurs in legal contexts to affirm someone’s innocence and good reputation before the court. This idiom is applied to Timothy to demonstrate his good Christian character and reputation over against the false teachers’ bad character. Paul similarly exhorts Timothy to “struggle the struggle” (ἀγωνίζου τὸν καλὸν ἀγῶνα) in 1 Tim 6:12, which most commentators recognize to be synonymous with “fight the good fight” in 1:18 (cf. 2 Tim 4:7).”

Robertson, “1 Timothy 1:3–4 in the Memory of Irenaeus, Tertullian, Athanasius, and Chrysostom”

Michael Scott Robertson has added a article in reception history to the secondary literature on the Pastorals:

Michael Scott Robertson, “1 Timothy 1:3–4 in the Memory of Irenaeus, Tertullian, Athanasius, and Chrysostom.” Religions 14.9 (2023), article 1123.

The article is open access, and is available here.

Abstract: In this article, I discuss reception history, its place within the history of historical critical methods, and social memory theory. I apply a reception historical lens buttressed by social memory theory to 1 Timothy 1:3–4. I show that the historical circumstances of this passage’s reception problematize using early understandings of it to reconstruct the referent behind “myths and endless genealogies”. I first show how the phrase “myths and endless genealogies” is ambiguous in the historical setting of the author. Then, I demonstrate that Irenaeus, Tertullian, Athanasius, and Chrysostom use this phrase against very different groups; however, all of these authors use 1 Timothy 1:4 for a (perceived) problem against their present group.

Fein, “From Pain to Redemption: 1 Timothy 2:15 in Its Jewish Context”

Sarah E. G. Fein. “From Pain to Redemption: 1 Timothy 2:15 in its Jewish Context.” Pages 85–100 in Gender and Second-Temple Judaism. Edited by Kathy Ehrensperger and Shayna Sheinfeld. Lanham, MD: Lexington Fortress, 2020.

Students of the Pastorals might be interested in this treatment of 1 Timothy 2:15, which I was unaware of until recently. The author has made the chapter available at Academia.

Persig, “The Language of Imperial Cult and Roman Religion in the Latin New Testament: The Latin Renderings of ‘Saviour’”

Anna Persig, “The Language of Imperial Cult and Roman Religion in the Latin New Testament: The Latin Renderings of ‘Saviour.’” New Testament Studies 69.1 (2023): 21–34.

Students of the Pastorals may benefit from Persig’s work on σωτήρ reflected in this article, given the significance of the term in the letters. Here’s the abstract:

The title σωτήρ, ‘saviour’, is bestowed on Christ and God in the New Testament and rendered in the Latin translations by conseruator, saluificator, salutificator, salutaris and saluator. Although these terms convey the same meaning, they are not interchangeable: this study argues that conseruator, which is the most frequent word for saviour on imperial coins, is rarely attested in the Latin versions because of its association with the imperial cult. The predominant translation, saluator, was coined as an alternative rendering to the other words which had religious and political connotations.

The article is open access and is available here.

Krauter, recent publications

I received word recently of two new Pastorals publications by Stefan Krauter and, given the volume of work he is producing, thought it might be helpful to provide a vignette of Krauter and his recent publications in the letters. One of the purposes of pastoralepistles.com is keeping researchers in the letters apprised of scholarly work being done in the Pastorals.

Stefan Krauter (PhD, University of Tübingen) serves as a professor of New Testament at the Univerisity of Zurich. His faculty page indicates that in addition to a research focus on the Pauline corpus, he devotes attention to the examination of the New Testament writings in their relationships to the Greek and Latin literature of the early imperial period and the interpretation of the Pauline letters in the 16th century.

Krauter has been commissioned to produce the commentary on the Pastoral Epistles in the Handbuch zum Neuen Testament to replace the hoary Die Pastoralbriefe of Martin Dibelius. Dibelius’s influential volume was originally published in 1913 as Die Briefe des Apostels Paulus. An Timotheus I, II an Titus, and saw its fourth edition in 1966, revised by Hans Conzelmann, then translated into English as The Pastoral Epistles in the Hermeneia series in 1972. Krauter’s replacement volume will thus come over a century after Dibelius’s first edition, and over fifty years after the Hermeneia volume.

Krauter’s research for this volume has produced a spate of recent publications, and more are forthcoming. At this point, I am aware of the following:

“‘All Things Bright and Beautiful’: La théologie de la création dans 1 Timothée.” Revue de théologie et de philosophie 155 (2023).

“Auf den zweiten Blick: Eine Hinführung zu den Pastoralbriefen.” Bibel und Kirche 78.2 (2023)

“Cretan Memories: Crete in the Letter to Titus and the Acts of Titus.” Early Christianity 13 (2022): 455–67.

“Exilliteratur und die Gattung des Zweiten Timotheusbriefes.” Revue Biblique 129 (2022): 183–98.

“Ein Geist der Besonnenheit? Σωφρονισμός in 2Tim 1,7.” Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft 114.1 (2023): 123–36.

“Geistlose Briefe? Πνεῦμα in den Timotheusbriefen und im Titusbrief.” In Geist | Ruach | Pneuma | Spiritus. Exegetische, theologische, religionsgeschichtliche und phänomenologische Perspektiven. Edited by R. Feldmeier, J. Frey, and B. Schliesser. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, forthcoming.

“Genderrollen in den Pastoralbriefen: ein Experiment mit verschiedenen Lesestrategien.” Theologische Literaturzeitung 146.5 (2021): 375–88.

“Ich weiß, wem ich mein Depositum anvertraut habe (2 Tim 1,12).” Biblische Zeitschrift 68 (2024). 

“Die Kirche – Pfeiler und Fundament der Wahrheit? Zur Übersetzung und Auslegung von I Tim 3,15f.” Theologische Zeitschrift 77.1 (2021): 45–59.

“The Lord be with your spirit (2 Tim 4:22a).” Revue Biblique 130 (2023). 

“The Pastoral Epistles and the Jewish Paul.” Pages 139–156 in Reception of Paul during the First Two Centuries: Exploration of the Jewish Matrix of Early Christianity. Edited by František Ábel. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books/Fortress Academic, 2023.

“Die Pastoralbriefe im Dienst reformatorischer und antireformatorischer Polemik bei Caspar Cruciger dem Älteren und Ambrosius Catharinus.” Pages 247–68 in Reformatorische Paulusauslegungen. Edited by Stefan Krauter and Manuel Nägele. History of Biblical Exegesis 5. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2023. 

“In Würde altern: Tit 2 und antike Vorstellungen vom Alter.” Theologische Zeitschrift 79.2 (2023): 146–65.

“Zwischen Oikos und Polis: Die Gemeinde und ihre Gemeindeversammlung in den Pastoralbriefen.” in Qahal und Ekklesia: Typen und Funktionen von Versammlungen im Alten und Neuen Testament und ihren Umwelten. Edited by Joachim J. Krauter, Stefan Krauter, and Wolfgang Oswald. Studies in Cultural Contexts of the Bible. Leiden: Brill, 2024.

Theophilus, “Numismatic Insights into Pauline Ethics”

Though the title may not immediately grab students of the Pastorals, Michael Theophilus’s new article will be of interest:

Michael P. Theophilus, “Numismatic Insights into Pauline Ethics: ΕΥΕΡΓ- on Roman Provincial, Parthian and Seleucid Coinage.” New Testament Studies 69.3 (2023): 313–31. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0028688522000339

Abstract: Numismatic inscriptional evidence consistently employs the ΕΥΕΡΓ- word group in describing a superior providing some material public benefit to an inferior, typically an entire city, nation or kingdom. This is evidenced in the present study’s comprehensive survey of several hundred numismatic types, extant in many thousands of specimens from the second century BCE to the first century CE. Within this context, 1 Timothy 6.2 is discussed, wherein it is noted that the apparent identification of a slave’s labour as ɛὐɛργɛσία not only heightens the significance and value of that service but is a deliberate inversion of expected social and linguistic norms.

The article is open-access, available here.

The Pastorals in Bibel und Kirche 78.2 (2023)

The most recent edition of Bibel und Kirche, a “journal on the Bible in research and practice [Die Zeitschrift zur Bibel in Forschung und Praxis],” has taken the Pastorals as its theme. It describes its theme in this summary:

“The two letters to Timothy and the letter to Titus are the focus of this issue. In current biblical scholarship, the three letters have a decidedly poor image. A majority assumes that the sender and addressees are a literary fiction: Neither were the letters really written by Paul, nor were Timothy and Titus their real recipients.In recent years, however, there has now been renewed movement in the discussion. The Pastoral Epistles are one of the focal points of the renewed debates about dating and authorship of the New Testament writings. There is also a new discussion about the content, especially the history of impact on the image of the church, questions of office – and also on the image of women and the question of women’s offices.” (Translation from German via DeepL)

The contents include the following articles:

Stefan Krauter
Auf den zweiten Blick
Eine Hinführung zu den Pastoralbriefen

Karl Matthias Schmidt
Larven des Lehrers
Der Abschluss der neutestamentlichen Paulus-Pseudepigraphie

Joram Luttenberger
Prophetenmantel oder Bücherfutteral?
Überlegungen zu den persönlichen Notizen in den Pastoralbriefen

Ulrike Wagener
Was sollen die Außenstehenden von uns denken?
Orientierung an der Reaktion der nichtchristlichen Umwelt
in den Pastoralbriefen

Gerd Häfner
»Eine gute Aufgabe« (1 Tim 3,1)
Ämter in den Pastoralbriefen und ihre Fortschreibung
in neuen Kontexten

Angela Standhartinger
Ältere Frauen, Presbyterinnen und Witwen in den Pastoralbriefen

Bettina Eltrop
Die Israelvergessenheit der Pastoralbriefe

Barbara Lumesberger-Loisl
“Predigtberbot für Frauen – bis heute?” Ein Zwischenruf

Literatur zum Heftthema, Mitgliederforum

Sanchez, “Making an Example”

A new article situated in 1 Timothy:

Jonathan Sanchez, “Making an Example: The Rhetorical Usefulness of Timothy in 1 Timothy.” Journal for the Study of the New Testament 45.4 (2023): 351–70. https://doi.org/10.1177/0142064X231163230

Abstract: Scholars of pseudepigraphal letters have recognized that pseudepigraphy troubles the identification of the alleged addressee with the historical addressee. This means that the rhetorical addressee is a matter of choice. Building on Benjamin Fiore’s work on exemplarity, I argue that Timothy as addressee of 1 Timothy helps the Pastor articulate specific aspects of his program. Timothy, like Paul, is an example and serves as a link between Paul’s exemplarity and this letter’s readers. Through Timothy’s exemplarity, the Pastor legitimates young leadership, addressing a second-century controversy in the Jesus movement. Finally, the Pastor reframes Timothy’s reputation, distancing him from Jewish law.

Jenks, “Eve as Savior of Humanity?”

Within the Pastorals, 1 Timothy 2:9–15 holds pride of place as having more secondary literature devoted to it than any other passage in the letters. Within that passage, verse 15 has received particular focus, and has been interpreted in a surprising number of ways. With the amount of attention given to this crux interpretum it might be thought that possible understandings of the verse have been exhausted, but a new article presents yet another take on this disputed passage:

R. Gregory Jenks, “Eve as Savior of Humanity? From the Genesis Narrative to Paul’s Comments on Childbearing in 1 Timothy 2:15.” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 66.1 (2023): 133–61.

Abstract: As the concluding text to one of the more controversial Pauline teachings about women in the church community, 1 Timothy 2:15 carries a host of grammatical, semantic, and cultural questions that tax the most motivated and careful exegete. It is rendered distinctly troublesome by the change in number in the verbs and debates about their referent(s), the meaning of “salvation,” and Paul’s choice of desired attributes. I examine Paul’s use of the figure of Eve by looking first at the Genesis passage, where I consider her role as Adam’s helper, her fall, her curse, and her recovery as keys to interpret her mention in 1 Timothy 2. I offer a surprising solution: Adam, not Eve, is saved through childbirth; that is, humanity is saved from extinction through the woman’s role of mother with the condition that the couple, that is, men and women in the church, maintain the godly attributes listed.

The Pastorals in Studies on the Paratextual Features of Early New Testament Manuscripts

A new volume by Brill has several articles oriented toward the Pastorals:

Studies on the Paratextual Features of Early New Testament Manuscripts. Edited by Stanley E. Porter, Chris S. Stevens, and David I. Yoon. Texts and Editions for New Testament Study. Leiden: Brill, 2023.

Solomon, S. Matthew. “Segmentation and Interpretation of Early Pauline Manuscripts.” (pp. 123–45).
“Manuscripts from the ancient world had less stereotyped formatting rules than books and media today. Unfortunately, some of these features are greatly underap-preciated for their potential interpretive value. In this paper, attention is given to how scribes of the Pauline corpus used spatial segmentation for their distinct pur-poses. The aim is to provide insights into how these scribal choices may influence the interpretation of certain texts, including 1 Cor 7:39, 14:33, Eph 5:21, 1 Tim 3:1, and Phlm 7. Finally, the chapter concludes that paragraphing and segmentation in the ancient world are quite different from today, and some of these differences are exe-getically significant.”

Tommy Wasserman and Linnea Thorp. “The Tradition and Development of the Subscriptions to 1 Timothy.” (pp. 172-201)
“This study examines the textual tradition of the subscriptions to 1 Timothy, proposing a typology based on a collation of 415 Greek manuscripts. The authors discuss the traditions about 1 Timothy reflected in the subscriptions in relation to other paratexts, internal evidence, Corpus Paulinum, Acts, and the wider church history. The creation and elaboration of subscriptions to Pauline letters, shaping the way they are read, not only satisfies human curiosity but serves to further authenticate the writings by connecting them to Paul and his circle of co-workers. The location of the letters in time and space reflects the ongoing construction of a “landscape of memory” in the early church.”

Conrad Thorup Elmelund and Tommy Wasserman. “Second Timothy: When and Where? Text and Tradition in the Subscriptions” (pp. 202–26).
“Based on full collations of the subscriptions to 2 Timothy in 485 Greek manuscripts, this study presents the textual tradition and development of these subscriptions and explains their relationship to other subscriptions, paratexts, the internal evidence in 1–2 Timothy, Acts, and the wider church history. The study tracks the source(s) be-hind the tradition that the letter was sent to Timothy, installed as the first bishop of the church of the Ephesians, sent from Rome when Paul had appeared before Nero a second time and relates this tradition to the competing ancient biographies of Paul.”

Chris S. Stevens, “Titus in P32 and Early Majuscules: Textual Reliability and Scribal Design” (pp. 267-87)
“Manuscripts in the ancient world are the products of many scribal decisions. The relationship between the final product of these scribal choices and the functionality of the text, both textual and paratextual, is easily underestimated or ignored. To move forward, this chapter conducts a process of manuscript criticism of P32. First, the textual transmission will be compared with other manuscripts for transmissional lines. Second, the paratextual features, most notably segmentation and layout, are assessed and compared across the first millennium. The results indicate the scribal transmission was highly uniform, P32 is from a multi-text codex, and the design fea-tures in Codex Sinaiticus strongly suggest a Sitz em Leben within public reading and liturgical services.”

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