Around April of each year, we compile and post annual bibliographies for researchers in the Letters to Timothy and Titus. These lists of just-published and soon-to-be published studies aim to help researchers in the Pastorals maintain control of the secondary literature, and to give some idea of research trends. Among other avenues of bibliographic discovery, we solicit the input of Pastorals scholars who have published previously on the letters. Our thanks to all who contributed!
Our annual bibliography of recent publications on the Letters to Timothy and Titus covers contributions from all of 2023 and early 2024. Over 125 items long and international in scope, the list contains monographs, journal articles, and commentaries, as well as lists of dissertations and conference presentations on the letters. It is available for viewing and downloading here.
Our annual bibliography of forthcoming academic publications on the Letters to Timothy and Titus is wide-ranging, containing around 60 forthcoming works, including essays, monographs, and commentaries. This bibliography is available for viewing and downloading here.
I’ve made a first attempt at compiling a chronological list of relatively recent Pastorals scholarship. This first edition provides a year-by-year accounting of scholarly monographs and commentaries on the Pastorals from 1970 to the present (and future!), in any language. The table is available via the “Scholarship Timeline” tab at the top of the page. The full presentation is available here, and includes, in addition to the table, a full bibliography of all the works listed in the table.
I put together an early version of this table to help me to see what scholarship a given author had to draw upon at any given time in the last fifty years, and thought this sort of thing might be useful for others involved in Pastorals research.
As a service to researchers in the Pastorals, we regularly note new publications that have been added to the secondary literature, and (especially through our annual bibliographies) we try to surface scholarly work in the letters that is in languages other than the relatively standard research languages of English, German, and French. My own accounting suggests there is easily as much secondary literature on the Pastorals in Italian as in French, and Polish and Dutch works are not lacking.
As many differences as there may be among, say, English, German, French, Dutch, Polish, and Italian, they are all spoken in Europe and share many similarities, not least of which is the same basic alphabet. At the time I began searching for works on the Pastorals written in Asian languages, I realized I was in a very different linguistic world. This post provides an unusual opportunity in that regard, allowing me to acknowledge a new major commentary:
Manabu Tsuji, Bokkai Shokan (Commentary on the Pastoral Epistles). Tokyo: Shinkyô Shuppansha, 2023. [Japanese]
Tsuji is Professor of Religious Studies at Hiroshima University. He holds his doctorate from the University of Berne; his dissertation was published as Glaube zwischen Vollkommenheit und Verweltlichung: Eine Untersuchung zur literarischen Gestalt und zur inhaltlichen Kohärenz des Jakobusbriefes, WUNT 2/93 (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1997). A few years back, he contributed to a list of Japanese-language scholarly articles on the Pastorals, which we posted here at pastoralepistles.com.
At 759 pages, Bokkai Shokan is a major work. Comparing page count to English works isn’t necessarily an apples-to-apples proposition, but one might think of Mounce’s 778-page WBC volume as similar in heft. Tsuji provided this summary of his work, which will give readers of the blog a good sense of where the commentary is located in the realm of Pastorals scholarship:
“This commentary consists of an approximately 60-page introduction that discusses the name ‘Pastoral Epistles,’ problems of authorship, opponents, and theological and literary characteristics, followed by nearly 700 pages of detailed exegesis and bibliography. According to the author, the three letters were written by a single author as the Corpus Pastorale, a collection of Pauline letters to individuals (Timothy and Titus) modeled after the Corpus Paulinum and intended to be read in the order of 1 Timothy, Titus, and 2 Timothy. Titus serves as a ‘spatial extension’ of the content of 1 Timothy, showing that the content of 1 Timothy is equally applicable to churches in other regions, while II Timothy serves as a ‘temporal extension,’ showing that the issue of confronting false doctrine (the main theme of 1 Timothy) remained an important concern for Paul until the end of his life. This Corpus Pastorale was written against the backdrop of conflicts over Paul’s understanding: The role of these letters is to let Paul himself speak about the ‘final correct answer’ to the questions he left unresolved or ambiguous, such as the autonomy of women and the understanding of the resurrection. The author criticizes as ‘false doctrine’ an ascetic understanding of Paul (which prohibits marriage and the consumption of certain foods). The Pastoral Epistles were written in the first half of the second century AD. Their theological characteristics (e.g., God, Christ, faith, etc.) reflect how Pauline Christianity was preached and received in the post-Pauline Hellenistic pagan world.”
Tsuji’s previous publications on the letters include the following:
“1 Tim 5:17–25: Its Context and Structure.” Shin’yakugaku Kenkyu [New Testament Studies] (Japan Society of New Testament Studies) 25 (1997): 13–24.「Ⅰテモテ 5:17–25 の文脈と構成」、『新約学研究』（日本新約学会）25 号 (1997 年）13–24 頁。[Japanese]
“II Timothy 1:6: Laying on of Hands by Paul for Ordination?” Annual of the Japanese Biblical Institute 39 (2013): 65‒76.
“Beyond the Original Context: Reception of the Pauline Letters in the First Century.” Pages 5–21 in Scrinium: Revue de patrologie, d’hagiographie critique et d’histoire ecclésiastique, vol. 6: Patrogia Pacifica Secunda: Selected Papers Presented to the Asia-Pacific Early Christian Studies Society Fifth Annual Conference (Sendai, Japan, September 10–12, 2009) and Other Patristic Studies. Edited by Vladimir Baranov, Kazuhiko Demura, and Basil Lourié. Piscataway, NJ: Georgias, 2010. = 「元の文脈を超えて――紀元一世紀におけるパウロ書簡の受容史」、『ペディラヴィウム』65号（2010年）38–56頁。[Japanese]
“‘Different teachings’ and ‘Rich Women’: On the Structure and Background of 1 Timothy 6:3–21.” Shingaku Kenkyu [Theological Studies] (Society of Theological Studies of Kwansei Gakuin University) 43 (1996): 17–38.「『異なる教え』と『富める女性』――1テモテ6,3–21の構成とその背景――」、『神学研究』 43号（1996年）17–38頁。[Japanese]
“Die Intertextualität von 1 Tim 2,1–3/Tit 3,1–2.” Pages 99–110 in Neutestamentliche Exegese im Dialog: Hermeneutik—Wirkungsgeschichte—Matthäusevangelium. Festschrift für Ulrich Luz zum 70. Geburtstag. Edited by Peter Lampe, Moises Mayordomo, and Migaku Sato. Neukirchener-Vluyn: Neukirchener, 2008. = 「Ⅰテモテ2,1–3/テトス3,1–2の間テクスト性」、『人間文化研究』第3号（2011年3月）36-48頁。[Japanese]
“Laying on of Hands by the Elders (1 Timothy 4:14) and by Paul (2 Timothy 1:6),” in: Shingaku Kenkyu [Theological Studies] (Society of Theological Studies of Kwansei Gakuin University) 51 (2004): 63–75.「長老団の按手（Ⅰテモテ4:14）とパウロの按手（Ⅱテモテ1:6）」、『神学研究』 51号（2004年）63–75頁。 [Japanese]
“On the Enrollment of ‘Widows’ (1 Timothy 5:3–16).” Shin’yakugaku Kenkyu [New Testament Studies] (Japan Society of New Testament Studies) 26 (1998): 17–29.「『やもめ』の登録 (1 テモテ 5:3–16) をめぐって」、『新約学研究』26 号 (1998年) 17–29 頁。 [Japanese]
“The Pastoral Epistles: On the Advocates of their Authenticity.” Shogaku Ronkyu [Journal of Business Administration of Kwansei Gakuin University] 50.4 (2003): 135–152.「牧会書簡――真筆性擁護の動きをめぐって」、『商学論究』 50巻4号（2003年）135–52頁。[Japanese]
“Persönliche Korrespondenz des Paulus: Zur Strategie der Pastoralbriefe als Pseudepigrapha.” New Testament Studies 56.2 (2010): 253–72. = 「パウロの個人宛書簡――偽名文書としての牧会書簡の戦略――」、『聖書学論集』43号（2011年4月）71–96頁。[Japanese]
“Saved through Childbearing: Context and Background of 1 Timothy 2:15.” Seishogaku Ronshu 41 (“Bible as Experience. Festschrift for Prof. ONUKI Takashi”) (2009): 463–79.「子を産むことによって救われる――1テモテ2:15の文脈と背景――」、日本聖書学研究所編『経験としての聖書：大貫隆教授献呈論文集』（聖書学論集41）リトン社、2009年3月、463–79頁。 [Japanese]
“Der zweite Timotheus als letzter Gefangenschaftsbrief.” Kwansei Gakuin University Humanities Review 11 (2006): 1–11. = “2 Timothy as the Last Captivity Letter.” 「獄中書簡としてのⅡテモテ書」、『新約学研究』 31号（2003年）42–55頁。 [Japanese]
“Zwischen Ideal und Realität: Zu den Witwen in 1 Tim 5.3–16.”New Testament Studies 47.1 (2001): 92–104.
Monographs on the Pastorals are uncommon enough that I wanted to mention this forthcoming volume even though it won’t be available for half a year:
Michael Robertson, Reading the Letter to Titus in Light of Crete: Dynamics of Early Christian Identity Construction. Critical Approaches to Early Christianity 3. Leiden: Brill, 2024.
Brill provides this summary of the volume: “This volume argues that Titus’s invocation of Crete affected the ways early readers developed their identities. Using archaeological data, classical writings, and early Christian documents, he describes multiple traditions that circulated on Crete and throughout the Roman Empire concerning Cretan Zeus, Cretan social structure, and Cretan Judaism. He then uses these traditions to interpret Titus and explain how the letter would intersect with and affect readers’ identities. Because readers had differing conceptions of Crete based on their location and access to and evaluation of Cretan traditions, readers would have developed their identities in multiple, conflictual, even contradictory ways.”
Robertson’s monograph joins his other publications, past and forthcoming, related to the Pastorals. In chronological order:
“Neophyte Pastors: Can Titus 1 Be Used to Justify Placing New Converts in the Office of Pastor?” Southwestern Theological Journal 57.1 (2014): 77‒86.
“1 and 2 Timothy.” In James Crossley and Alastair Lockhart, eds., Critical Dictionary of Apocalyptic and Millenarian Movements. 28 October 2021.
“Letter of Paul to Titus.” In James Crossley and Alastair Lockhart, eds., Critical Dictionary of Apocalyptic and Millenarian Movements. 28 October 2021. Retrieved from https://www.cdamm.org/articles/titus.
“Pauline Apocalypticism and the Pastoral Epistles.” In James Crossley and Alastair Lockhart, eds., Critical Dictionary of Apocalyptic and Millenarian Movements. 28 October 2021. Retrieved from https://www.cdamm.org/articles/apocalypticism-pastoral-epistles
“Zeus in the Interpretation of the Letter to Titus in the Church Fathers and the Acts of Titus.” Apocrypha 33, forthcoming.
“Anti-Judaism in the Pastoral Epistles.” In Judeophobia in the New Testament: Texts, Contexts, and Pedagogy. Edited by Sarah Rollens, Eric Vanden Eykel, and Meredith Warren. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, forthcoming.
“Deutero-Pauline Epistles.” In James Crossley and Michelle Fletcher, eds, Introduction to the New Testament. London: SCM Press, forthcoming.
“Eve in the New Testament.” In Katie B. Edwards and Caroline Blyth, eds., Routledge Handbook of Eve. London: Routledge, forthcoming.
“Pauline Pseudepigrapha as Lieux de Mémoire: Using and Applying Pseudepigraphic Texts in the Church.” In Proceedings of the Pastoral Implications of Pseudepigraphy and Anonymity in the New Testament Conference, ed. David Capes. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, forthcoming.
I learned a good deal by reading Luke Timothy Johnson’s recently published memoir, The Mind in Another Place: My Life as a Scholar (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2022), from both his interesting and detailed account of his scholarly preparation and career, and his incisive treatment of the intellectual and moral virtues of a scholar. Researchers in the Pastorals are, of course, familiar with his work in the letters, most notably his volume on the letters to Timothy in the Anchor Bible series. That volume is remarkable not least for its robust disagreement with the position that the Pastorals are pseudonymous, but also for its extensive treatment of history of research in the letters. On the former point regarding authorship, he notes, “Of particular importance was my demonstrating how the ‘consensus’ view of scholarship was based not on the power of argument but on the weight of custom” (165).
Johnson’s oeuvre is far broader than his work on the Pastorals, and his specific remarks about his work in those letters are actually fairly brief. I have pulled three pertinent excerpts, thinking they might be of interest to students of the letters. They may be read here.
It’s that time of year again! For some years now, we’ve been compiling and posting annual bibliographies for researchers in the Letters to Timothy and Titus. These projects are intended to help researchers in the Pastorals maintain control of the secondary literature, and give some idea of research trends. Our compilation of these bibliographies involves the input of Pastorals scholars who have published previously on the letters. Our thanks to all who contributed!
Our annual bibliography of recent publications on the Letters to Timothy and Titus covers contributions from all of 2022 and early 2023. Over 170 items long and international in scope, the list contains monographs, journal articles, and commentaries, as well as lists of dissertations and conference presentations on the letters. It is available for viewing and downloading here.
Our annual bibliography of forthcoming academic publications on the Letters to Timothy and Titus is wide-ranging, containing over 60 forthcoming works on the Pastoral Epistles, including essays, monographs, and commentaries. In some cases, authors have provided a brief synopsis of their work. This bibliography is available for viewing and downloading here.
“Good is a major theme in the PE.” (Mounce, Pastoral Epistles, 33.)
Without considering ἀγαθός for the moment, note that καλός/καλῶς are found in 1 Tim 16x/4x; 2 Tim 3x/0x; Titus 4x/0x (note also καλοδιδάσκαλος, Titus 2:3).
See focused discussion of καλός and/or καλῶς in the Pastorals in Roberto Amici, “Principi e norme di non estraneità al mondo nelle lettere a Timoteo e a Tito,” EstBib 67.3 (2009): 447–56; Rüdiger Fuchs, “Bisher unbeachtet—zum unterschiedlichen Gebrauch von ἀγαθός, καλός, und καλῶς in den Schreiben an Timotheus und Titus,” EuroJTh 15 (2006): 15–33; W. Grundmann, “καλός,” TDNT 3:549–50; Lock, Pastoral Epistles, 22–23; Marcheselli-Casale, Le Lettere Pastorali, 393–95; Marshall, Pastoral Epistles, 227–29; Jerome D. Quinn, The Letter to Titus, AB 35 (New York: Doubleday, 1990), 175–76; Pietro Rossano, “L’ideale del bello (Καλός) nell’etica di S. Paolo,” in Studiorum Paulinorum Congressus internationalis catholicus 1961, AnBib 18 (Rome: Pontificio Istituto Biblico, 1963), esp. 377–81; M. Silva, “καλός, κτλ.,” NIDNTTE 2:610; Spicq, Les épîtres pastorales, 676–84; J. Wanke, “καλός,” EDNT 2:245.
Recently, the Pastorals seem to be having an outsized presence in Mohr Siebeck’s Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament series. The following are recently published and forthcoming volumes in WUNT 1 and and WUNT 2 which each focus solely on one or more of the Pastorals. Authorship/editorship is widespread: Australia (Kidson), Germany (Herzer, Zimmermann), Nigeria (Manomi), Switzerland (Bulundwe), USA (Langford).
Lyn Kidson, Persuading Shipwrecked Men: Rhetorical Strategies in 1 Timothy (WUNT 2/526; 2020) (RBL review) (JETS) (ABR) (JSNT) Dogara Ishaya Manomi, Virtue Ethics in the Letter to Titus: An Interdisciplinary Study (WUNT 2/560; 2021) Jens Herzer, Die Pastoralbriefe und das Vermächtnis des Paulus: Studien zu den Briefen an Timotheus und Titus (WUNT 476; 2022) Ruben Zimmermann and Dogara Ishaya Manomi, eds. “Ready for Every Good Work” (Titus 3:1): Implicit Ethics in the Letter to Titus (WUNT 484; 2022) Andrew M. Langford, Diagnosing Deviance: Pathology and Polemic in the Pastoral Epistles (WUNT 2/ ; 2022 est.) Kampotela Luc Bulundwe, 2 Timothée dans le corpus paulinien. Analyse mémorielle (WUNT 2/ ; 2022 or 2023)
To be sure, plenty of single essays on one or more of the Pastorals have appeared in edited WUNT collections. However, before the recent spate of volumes just noted, only the following WUNT volumes (to my knowledge) focused solely on one or more of the Pastorals (or, for Trebilco and Smith, were monographs with a very significant Pastorals component):
Ulrike Wagener, Die Ordnung des “Hauses Gottes.” Der Ort von Frauen in der Ekklesiologie und Ethik des Pastoralbriefe (WUNT 2/65; 1994) Andrew Y. Lau, Manifest in Flesh: The Epiphany Christology of the Pastoral Epistles (WUNT 2/86; 1996) Hanna Stettler, Die Christologie der Pastoralbriefe (WUNT 2/105; 1998) Paul R. Trebilco, The Early Christians in Ephesus from Paul to Ignatius (WUNT 166; 2004) Bernhard Mutschler, Glaube in den Pastoralbriefen: Pistis als Mitte christlicher Existenz (WUNT 256; 2010) Claire Smith, Pauline Communities as “Scholastic Communities”: A Study of the Vocabulary of “Teaching” in 1 Corinthians, 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus (WUNT 2/335; 2012)
The first batch of volumes above has six WUNT volumes on the Pastorals being published in around four years (2020–2023). The earlier batch of volumes, another half-dozen, spans nearly two decades (1994–2012).
For some few years now, we have been producing annual bibliographies for researchers in the Letters to Timothy and Titus. These bibliographies are meant to help students of these letters keep up with the secondary literature, and give some idea of research trends. We compile this list each year by contacting academic publishers and Pastorals scholars who have published previously on the letters. Our thanks to all who contributed!
Our annual bibliography of recent publications on the Letters to Timothy and Titus covers contributions from all of 2021 and early 2022. Over 170 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.
Our annual bibliography of forthcoming publications on the Letters to Timothy and Titus is wide-ranging and academically oriented, containing over 60 forthcoming works on the Pastoral Epistles, including essays, monographs, and commentaries. In some cases, authors have provided a brief synopsis of their work. This bibliography is available for viewing and downloading here.
A couple of decade-old Pastorals essays have recently been translated and revised for inclusion in a new volume.
Originally published in German in HTS Theological Studies in 2012, an English-language revision of Annette Merz’s “Gen(de)red power: Die Macht des Genres im Streit um die Frauenrolle in Pastoralbriefen und Paulusakten” is now available:
Annette B. Merz, “Gendered Power and the Power of Genre in the Debate about Women’s Roles in the Pastoral Letters and the Acts of Paul.” Pages 173–194 in Power in the New Testament. Edited by Annette B. Merz and Pieter G. R. de Villiers. Contributions to Biblical Exegesis and Theology 107. Leuven: Peeters, 2021.
Abstract from the original article: “Two texts that contributed to the discussion on gender roles in formative Christianity, 1 Timothy and the Acts of Paul, are investigated. In both cases the emphasis is on the much-disputed role of women. Power plays a role on different levels. On the one hand power relations between the sexes are depicted or directly addressed by the text (‘gendered’ power), while on the other hand the power of persuasion is brought to bear on both male and female readers to legitimize the patriarchal, videlicet the encratitic model of gender. This is done by rhetorical means that are text-specific, but also make use of genre-specific persuasion strategies. This ‘genred power’ is still mostly unchartered territory in exegetical discussions and is therefore the focus of my investigation. Especially important in both genres are intertextual allusions to authoritative texts. Fictive self-references which enable the author (’Paul’) to correct himself are one focus of interest. Narrative strategies (i.e. character and plot development) which also have an intertextual dimension are a second focal point. The take-over of the role of Peter who denies Jesus and repents by Paul in the Acts of Thecla turns out to be of major rhetorical significance.”
Originally published in Dutch in HTS Theological Studiesin 2012, a English-language revision of Rob van Houwelingen’s “Macht, onmacht en volmacht in 1 Timoteüs 2:8−15” is in the same volume as Merz’s:
P. H. Rob van Houwelingen, “Power, Powerlessness, and Authorised Power in 1 Timothy 2:8–15.” Pages 195–222 in Power in the New Testament. Edited by Annette B. Merz and Pieter G. R. de Villiers. Contributions to Biblical Exegesis and Theology 107. Leuven: Peeters, 2021.
The essay is available on Academia, where a summary is given: “Exploring whether and in what respect the Pastoral Epistles demonstrate thinking in terms of ecclesiastical power, the present essay examines 1 Timothy 2:8–15. This passage is much debated when it comes to the role of women in the church. A close reading of the text within the corpus paulinum, including the self-attestation of 1 Timothy as a letter of the apostle Paul, shows three aspects. Under the heading Power, the underlying problem is discussed that Timothy faced: the male/female relationship within the congregation in Ephesus that threatened to degenerate into a power struggle. With Powerlessness, the creation account as referred to in verses 13–15 comes into view. Its focus is the woman God created, Eve. It tells the story of human weakness, which in 1 Timothy becomes a sort of triptych about Eve and creation, Eve and the fall, and Eve and redemption. From all this, Paul draws the conclusion that a woman is not allowed to teach in the church or to exercise authority over a man. Finally, Authorised power refers to speaking with another’s authority—in Paul’s case, as an ambassador of Jesus Christ. Paul wanted to regulate a problematic situation involving male/female relationships in Timothy’s congregation by giving his apostolic instructions. He did so, in order to create space for the trustworthy Word. Paul’s instructions could easily be considered a kind of misogynistic power play. However, the apostle should be interpreted on his own terms. This applies both to his social context and to his missionary drive, as is explained in a brief reflection.”
