Category: Books (Page 13 of 14)

Progress

February 23, 2008 / Beka Johnson

We’ve been on Winter Break (Thursday and Friday off, no school), so I’ve been able to do some writing.

When I started on the project in January, I tried to work my way through Philemon. I thought I could get that letter finished and then move on to the PE. I rewrote / restructured / supplemented all the materials on slavery in the NT world, but got really bogged down when I reached the materials dealing with classical rhetoric–NOT my area.

So I’ve set Philemon aside, and now I’m writing the introduction to the PE. Yesterday, I outlined about 35 pages (double-spaced) of material. About 40% of that material needs to be written from scratch. Well, I got TEN PAGES of the “from scratch” part written today. I’m feeling pretty good about the project right now.

Of course, there are midterms and pregistration and prof reviews and taxes to do and a fuel filter to change and . . .

I’m Back!!

February 17, 2008 / Ray Van Neste

After some time away, I’m working in the Pastorals again. Here’s a rather disjointed series of thoughts on what I’m doing.

The time away: last spring, I was named the Dean of the Sack School of Bible and Ministry at Kentucky Christian University, the school where I’ve taught for five years. Administration has left me with almost no time to write, especially since our Youth and Family Ministries professor left without warning in June.

Writing again: my doktorvater, Charles Talbert, has invited me to finish the commentary on the Pastorals and Philemon in the Smyth and Helwys Reading the New Testament series. This particular volume, which will be published under the title Reading Paul’s Letters to Individuals, has a checkered past. Several NT scholars have had the contract at one time or another. I’ll be completing work that Hulit Gloer was not able to finish due to health reasons.

My deadline: 4 July, which is growing nearer every day.

How it’s going: I made the mistake, when I first started writing, of trying to tackle Philemon first. But I don’t know Philemon as well as I know the PE, so I’ve gotten a bit bogged down. So I’ve started writing on the PE again.

Little projects that make up the big project:

In April, I’ll be presenting a paper at the Stone Campbell Journal conference, at Cincinnati Christian University. The paper will deal with 1 Timothy 2.
The commentary will build on the reading of the PE from my monograph, Leadership Succession, and on the papers that I’ve read at SBL in Philadelphia (a narrative reading of the PE, using Aristotle’s Poetics as my primary lens) and Washington.
In the commentary, I will treat the letters in the order Titus – 1 Timothy – 2 Timothy – Philemon.

Merkle on Elders and Overseers

February 4, 2008 / Rick Brannan

On my way back from Nepal I finally read Ben Merkle’s book, $amz(0820462349 The Elder and Overseer: One Office in the Early Church) (Peter Lang, 2003). It is a revision of his doctoral dissertation. Merkle provides a good overview of the scholarly discussion and of the relevant background material. He makes a good case for the use of the term ‘elder’ referring to an office and not simply to age. I agree with his thesis—that elder and overseer refer to the same office—and thought he did a good job defending it. He also deals with the idea that Paul’s churches had no structure/authority but were loosely led by ‘charismatics.’ This view shows up not only in more critical schools of thought but can be found in evangelical settings as well. Merkle clearly shows that concern for official leadership is clear in Paul and Acts. There is no aversion to ‘office’ in Paul and there is more concern with authority than is sometimes acknowledged (for example see Robert Banks, “Church Order and Government” in Dictionary of Paul and His Letters). Merkle rightly demonstrates that this view is rooted in an approach which prioritizes 1 Corinthians to the exclusion of Paul’s other letters.

I had been thinking for some time that a rebuttal of these ‘no structure, no authority’ views need to be written. Now I know Merkle has done it and done it well.

Classen on Titus

November 28, 2007 / perry

At SBL I finally managed to find a reasonably priced copy of Carl Joachim Classen’s Rhetorical Criticism of the New Testament (Brill, 2000). This book is a collection of papers and articles previously given and published. His first two essays are useful on the question of the legitimacy of using categories of classical rhetoric in analyzing Paul’s letters. Classen is a classicist rather than a biblical scholar so he brings a valuable perspective to the question.

The third essay is the one that directly concerns the Pastoral Epistles and is entitled, “A Rhetorical Reading of the Epistle to Titus.” Though I differ from Classen on the structure of the letter, I benefitted from reading his analysis while working on my own. He does conclude that the letter is carefully written (in contrast to many) and that the author did not follow the directions of any of the classical handbooks on rhetoric. Any examination of the structure of Titus ought to interact with Classen.

(You can see my differences with Classen either by comparing his work with my monograph or a brief article, “Structure and Cohesion in Titus,” published in The Bible Translator 53:1 (Jan 2002):118-33.)

New book by James Aageson

October 22, 2007 / perry

James W. Aageson, Paul, the Pastoral Epistles, and the Early Church (Hendrickson, 2008)

Although the publication date on this book is January 2008, I have just received my copy. I have looked over it briefly, and it appears to be a very interesting, thorough book. One might question whether or not it could be a good book since the bibliography fails to mention Lloyd, Perry or myself. J Nonetheless, this will likely be a significant volume in the study of the Pastorals.

Aageson contends that the Pastorals were written after Paul but before Ignatius of Antioch wrote his letters (shortly after AD 100). The book seeks to trace how certain theological themes are handled in the Pastorals in comparison to Paul and the early church. I differ from Aageson in many respects, but I think this book will be important and useful. I look forward to reading it.

Discourse Reading List (with a focus on the Pastoral Epistles)

September 19, 2007 / Rick Brannan

I’m gearing up to do a home-group Bible study on First Timothy in the “winter” quarter (so, Jan-March/April 2008) for my church. I intend to use it as an excuse to look at First Timothy from the perspective of discourse analysis. I think too often home-group studies of NT epistles devolve into “word study” sessions (“The Greek word means … “) and the larger perspective of the actual message of the letters is lost. I’m hoping to stay away from that. There are places where studies on words are useful, but my goal will be to come to a better understanding of First Timothy as a letter; not an understanding of pieces of it.

I should say straight up that anyone interested in discourse and the Pastoral Epistles needs to read, learn and love Ray Van Neste’s $amz(0567083373 Cohesion and Structure in the Pastoral Epistles). I’m not just saying that because Ray blogs for PastoralEpistles.com—I’m saying it because it’s that good. Get ye to the library and checketh it out (unless you want to drop $150 on the book). I’ll probably use Ray’s sections and units as the basis of segmentation of the books for my study.

Apart from that, there’s a bunch of other stuff to read. Most of these I’ve read at least once, but I plan on reading them again before I dig in on formal preparation/writing.

There is one article that has proven difficult for me to locate:

Reed, Jeffrey T. “Discourse Features in New Testament Letters, with Special Reference to the structure of 1 Timothy”, Journal of Translation and Textlinguistics 6: 228-52. 1993.

I know that an index for the Journal of Translation and Textlinguistics is on the web (at SIL’s site), but the article itself isn’t. If anyone can point me to the article, or knows a library that actually carries the periodical, I’d appreciate the info.

Here’s the short list of stuff I’ll be re-examining:

Articles / Essays

Reed, Jeffrey T. “To Timothy or Not? A Discourse Analysis of 1 Timothy” in S.E. Porter and D.A. Carson (eds.) Biblical Greek Language and Linguistics: Open Questions in Current Research (JSNTSup 80; Sheffield: JSOT Press): 90-118. 1993.

—– “Cohesive Ties in 1 Timothy: In Defense of the Epistle’s Unity”, Neotestamentica 26/1: 192-213. 1992.

—– “The Cohesiveness of Discourse: Towards a Model of Linguistic Criteria for Analyzing New Testament Discourse” in S.E. Porter and J.T. Reed (eds.), Discourse Analysis and the New Testament: Approaches and Results (JSNTSup 170; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press): 28-46. 1999.

—– “Identifying Theme in the New Testament: Insights from Discourse Analysis” in S.E. Porter and D.A. Carson (eds.), Discourse Analysis and Other Topics in Biblical Greek (JSNTSup 113; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press): 75-101. 1995.

—– “Discourse Features in New Testament Letters, with Special Reference to the structure of 1 Timothy”, Journal of Translation and Textlinguistics 6: 228-52. 1993.

Levinsohn, Stephen H. “Some Constraints on Discourse Development in the Pastoral Epistles” in S.E. Porter and J.T. Reed (eds.), Discourse Analysis and the New Testament: Approaches and Results (JSNTSup 170; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press): 316-333. 1999.

—– “A Discourse Study of Constituent Order and the Article in Philippians” in S.E. Porter and D.A. Carson (eds.), Discourse Analysis and Other Topics in Biblical Greek (JSNTSup 113; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press): 60-74. 1995.

Wendland, Ernst R. “‘Let No One Disregard You!’ (Titus 2.15): Church Discipline and the Construction of Discourse in a Personal, ‘Pastoral’ Epistle” in S.E. Porter and J.T. Reed (eds.), Discourse Analysis and the New Testament: Approaches and Results (JSNTSup 170; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press): 334-351. 1999.

Books

Guthrie, George. The Structure of Hebrews: A Text-Linguistic Analysis (NovT Sup 73; Leiden: Brill). (also reprinted by Baker Books, which is the copy I have, though I don’t have the citation handy)

Miller, J.D. The Pastoral Letters as Composite Documents (SNTSMS 93; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press). 1997.

Reed, Jeffrey T. A Discourse Analysis of Philippians, Method and Rhetoric in the Debate over Literary Integrity (JSNTSUp 137; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press). 1997.

Van Neste, Ray. Cohesion and Structure in the Pastoral Epistles (JSNTSup 280; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press). 2004.

That oughta do it. Note Miller’s book is (at least for me) frustrating to read because I absolutely don’t agree with it. Ray responds directly to many of the issues raised by Miller; which is why it is helpful to examine both books. If you can only choose one, go with Ray.

There are some specialized studies I’ll probably also read and work through (e.g. Heckert on $amz(1556710410 Discourse Function of Conjoiners in the Pastoral Epistles)), but don’t appear on the list. I’m not trying to be comprehensive with the above list; think of it more like a shotgun approach: maximum info in minimum reading. Do you have another article or book to add to the list? Let me know via the comments.

I will likely blog sporadically about this study, hopefully to work through an approach to discourse. But I may not — it all depends on how I feel while I’m in the process.

Update (2007-09-17): I’ve had a few folks offer to send me the article. Y’all are incredible! Thanks very much!

Ancient Letters and the New Testament

August 17, 2007 / Rick Brannan

$amz(1932792406 Ancient Letters and the New Testament), Hans-Josef Klauck (Baylor Press, 2006)

Overall this is a valuable contribution to the literature on letters in the ancient world. Klauck takes six chapters to survey the various types of letters in the ancient world (with student exercises) and then two chapters to survey epistolary issues in the New Testament. In Chapter 7 he briefly surveys most NT letters and in Chapter 8 he deals with a few letters in more detail. He treats the Pastoral Epistles briefly in Chapter 7.

His treatment of the Pastorals is disappointing. His assumption of their pseudonymity is not surprising, but what is disappointing is the various points based on overconfidence in literary and epistolary grounds. He states baldly, “The Pastoral Letters were conceived as a complete collection by their author, who intentionally chose the number three for effect” (324). He goes on to argue that the author intended them to be read in the order: Titus, 1 Tim, 2 Tim. This is not a new suggestion, but it does requite argumentation. Nothing in the manner of letter writing demands or strongly suggests this conclusion. In fact scholarship of the last decade has increasingly challenged the idea that these three letters should be considered as a distinct corpus. The lengthy introduction to Titus is significant, but it is a logical leap to assert this proves the author intended Titus to serve as the intro to a three letter collection! And what “effect” is intended by the choice of the number three as Klauck suggests? These are just a couple of examples of problems in this section.

This section represents some common older assumptions about the pastorals. It is not very up to date (e.g., none of the works on the structure of Titus are mentioned in the bibliography). This could be due to the fact that the original German work was published in 1998. However, Klauck in his introduction states that this book is “not a simple translation, but the text of the German edition has been thoroughly revised, updated, and also enlarged” (viii).

Raymond F. Collins Reviews Ben Witherington III on the Pastoral Epistles

August 16, 2007 / Rick Brannan

The ever-helpful Review of Biblical Literature has published Raymond Collins’ review of Witherington’s book:

Ben Witherington III
$amz(0830829318 Letters and Homilies for Hellenized Christians: Volume 1: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on Titus, 1-2 Timothy and 1-3 John)
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=5714
Reviewed by Raymond F. Collins

Collins is generally accepting of Witherington’s work despite their disagreement on authorship.

I’ve read the introductions and various other portions of Witherington’s section on the Pastoral Epistles and can recommend it.

An Article and A Review

July 18, 2007 / Rick Brannan

A few items of note, particularly because they involve some gents who occassionally post at PastoralEpistles.com.

First, Lloyd Pietersen has an article in this week’s Expository Times. I don’t have access to the journal, so I’ve not read the article, but since it is on the Pastorals it does bear mentioning here. That is, I’m guessing it is an article and not a book review because of the way the title is listed in the Expository Times table of contents. (Lloyd, if you could provide a little more info that would be great!)

Lloyd K. Pietersen. “Salvation Language in the Pastoral Epistles: George M. Wieland, The Significance of Salvation: A Study of Salvation Language in the Pastoral Epistles (Paternoster Biblical Monographs; Milton Keynes: Paternoster, 2006. £24.99. pp. xxii + 344. ISBN 1—84227—257—8)”. The Expository Times 2007 118: 487. (PDF, though you need to have SAGE access)

Next, the June 2007 issue of the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society published Ray Van Neste’s review of Perry Stepp’s $amz(1905048734 Leadership Succession in the World of the Pauline Circle). If you have the print, the review is on page 405. I don’t believe this issue of the journal is online yet, though with the new ETS web site the promise is that issues will be available online, so … maybe in a few months.

Congrats Lloyd, Ray and Perry!

Review of Alfons Weiser on Second Timothy

June 13, 2007 / Rick Brannan

In this week’s Review of Biblical Literature, Raymond F. Collins reviews Alfons Weiser’s Der zweite Brief an Timotheus, which is part of the EKK (Evangelisch-Katholischer Kommentar zum Neuen Testament) commentary series.

Since I’m not able to read German, I’m grateful for the review. Sounds like there is decent interaction with patristic literature (yay!), though it also sounds like Weiser approaches the text as a pseudepigraphon — in both sender and receiver.