Category: Books (Page 9 of 14)

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.

Free Online Access to Annette Merz’s monograph on PE

December 31, 2014 / Ray Van Neste

Chuck Bumgardner has pointed out to me that Merz’s volume is available free online. Here is the bib data and link:

Merz, Annette. Die fiktive Selbstauslegung des Paulus: intertextuelle Studien zur Intention und Rezeption der Pastoralbriefe. Novum Testamentum et Orbis Antiquus 52. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2004. https://digi20.digitale-sammlungen.de/de/fs1/object/display/bsb00044367_00001.html

It appears some other German monographs are similarly available but our links aren’t working yet. If we can get good links I will post them as well.

New Book on “Scripture” in the PE

October 27, 2014 / Ray Van Neste

I am pleased to announce that Tim Swinson’s book, What Is Scripture?: Paul’s Use of Graphe in the Letters to Timothy (Wipf & Stock) is now available (Amazon, publisher’s site). I was honored to write the foreword for this compelling book which argues that graphe in each instance in 1 & 2 Timothy includes in its reference at least some of the apostolic writings.

Here is the book summary from the publisher:

Analysis of the literary scheme of the letters to Timothy suggests that graphe, as it is employed in each letter, may legitimately be understood to include some of the apostolic writings that now appear in the New Testament. In affirming the Pauline authorship of the Pastoral Epistles, Swinson argues that a form of the Gospel of Luke stands as the source of the second referent of graphe in 1 Tim 5:18. Second, Swinson contends that pasa graphe in 2 Tim 3:16 includes the apostolic writings extant in Paul’s day, specifically Luke’s Gospel and some of Paul’s own writings. These parallel lines of analysis demonstrate that Paul ascribes to his own writings and to those of his coworkers an authoritative standing equal to that of the sacred writings (ta hiera grammata) found in the Old Testament. While many questions surrounding biblical authority and the biblical canon remain, Paul’s use of graphe in 1 and 2 Timothy nevertheless advances a high view of both Old Testament and New Testament Scripture.

Bob Yarbrough has also written a warm commendation:

“This study takes a fresh, critical, and comprehensive look at evidence and arguments often either overlooked or facilely dismissed. The happy result is a better factual foundation for consideration of vital historical questions regarding Christian origins and the role that Scripture played from the church’s inception. Especially welcome are [Swinson’s] careful exegesis, philological rigor, and charitable candor in interaction with other contemporary scholarship.”

Lastly, here is the concluding portion of the foreword I wrote:

If his arguments hold (as I think they do), this book has significant implications in several areas. First, this is an important contribution to scholarship on the Pastoral Epistles. The careful exegesis, the discourse and semantic analysis, and the lexical study, not to mention his challenge to the typical reading of γραφη, make this a valuable resource for anyone working in these letters. Then, his thesis that apostolic writings were already recognized in the first century as “Scripture” on par with the Law, the Prophets and the Writings has major implications for our understanding of canon and current debates in that realm.

Careful, detailed and swimming against the tide, this is a bold, compelling book with significant conclusions for scholarship and the church. I have been privileged to encounter Tim’s work in presentations at scholarly conferences along the way and was immediately drawn to the substance and manner of his work- conscientious, cautious and charitable. I am excited that this work will now be available to a wider audience. This book has challenged and helped me, and I commend it to you.

The Church as Learning Community

August 2, 2014 / Ray Van Neste

In J. I. Packer’s recent book, Finishing Our Course with Joy: Guidance from God for Engaging with Our Aging, he turns to the Pastorals frequently. In the following quote he gives a helpful, practical picture of the church in the PE

The Pastoral Letters in the New Testament all indicate, one way or another, that the church must expect to be constantly infected by misbelief as well as misbehavior. And congregations in every age must see themselves as learning communities in which gospel truth has to be taught, defended, and vindicated against corruptions of it and alternatives to it. Being alert to all aspects of the difference between true and false teaching, and of behavior that expresses the truth as distinct from obscuring it, is vital to the church’s health.

This definition is useful to all of us regardless of age (as his book is also useful in many ways, regardless of age).

Book Notice: Men & Women in the Household of God

July 7, 2014 / Ray Van Neste

Korinna Zamfir Men and Women in the Household of God: A Contextual Approach to Roles and Ministries in the Pastoral Epistles (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2013)

Korinna Zamfir is Associate Professor at the faculty of Roman Catholic Theology of the Babeş-Bolyai University in Cluj in Romania, and she has published several works on the Pastoral Epistles. This is a very thorough monograph which will demand attention from those doing future work in the Pastorals. By “contextual” Zamfir means the social and cultural context from which the text emerged, and by “roles and ministries’ she means the authorization of people to serve in various ways and the roles expected of various groups, particularly men and women. Zamfir draws from Abraham Malherbe regarding social and cultural context.

The book assumes non-Pauline authorship written in the third generation of Christianity and that the NT preserves perspectives from competing strands of Christianity. This is not uncommon in more critical work, though the assumption of competing strands of Christianity seems, to me, to be too readily accepted with slim basis. Zamfir also sees the Pastorals as documents which are attempting to move a community towards a more culturally conservative perspective. She stresses the directives of the letters do not represent what is really happening in these churches but what the author wants to happen- which is probably different from the current reality.

Although I do not share many of the basic assumptions with which Zamfir works, this book is worthy of careful attention. She develops the idea of the church as oikos, noting that although this has often been thought of as a private family the metaphor is also used of larger public groups like the polis. The key texts on gender roles also receive significant attention.

Jack Barentsen’s Emerging Leadership in the Pauline Mission

June 27, 2014 / Ray Van Neste

Just judging from the title, one may not realize that Jack Barentsen’s Emerging Leadership in the Pauline Mission: A Social Identity Perspective on Local Leadership Development in Corinth and Ephesus (Pickwick, 2011) deals extensively with the Pastoral Epistles. In fact in the nine chapters one deals exclusively with 1 Timothy and another with 2 Timothy.

Bartensen is concerned to trace cultural leadership patterns through the Corinthian correspondence, Ephesians and 1-2 Timothy since in a fairly close proximity (between Corinth and Ephesus) you have this many letters written to churches over the span of Paul’s ministry. This reading, of course, depends on Pauline authorship of each of these letters and Bartensen provides a good brief defense of Pauline authorship of the 1-2 Timothy.

I cannot here summarize all of the implications of PE study, but Bartensen’s reading of the situation in 1 Timothy makes good sense of the letter as an example of mandata principis. Paul’s more formal address to Timothy is expected to be overheard by the church particularly the wealthy home owners who would presumably host the church.

This is a helpful contribution to the Pastoral Epistles literature, and I didn’t want anyone to miss it since the Pastorals aren’t mentioned in the title.

Publications on the PE in 2013 &2014

June 23, 2014 / Ray Van Neste

Keeping up with new publications on a certain topic can be quite a challenge. Howard Marshall once told me that when he began teaching it was possible to read everything that came out on the New Testament. He went on to comment on how hard it is now just to keep up with one specific area.

Chuck Bumgardner has helpfully passed along the following bibliography of items which deal specifically at some length with the Pastorals which have been published in 2013 or so far in 2014. I found it to be a thorough list, adding only a few items myself. If you know of others please mention it by emailing us at pastoralepistles at gmail dot com.

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.

Collins, Raymond F. Accompanied by a Believing Wife: Ministry and Celibacy in the Earliest Christian Communities. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical, 2013.

Downs, David J. “The God Who Gives Life That Is Truly Life: Meritorious Almsgiving and the Divine Economy in 1 Timothy 6.” Pages 242-60 in The Unrelenting God: God’s Action in Scripture: Essays in Honor of Beverly Roberts Gaventa. Edited by David J. Downs and Matthew L. Skinner. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2013.

Dragutinović, Predrag. “Bischofsamt und Ehe in 1 Tim 3,2.” Biblische Notizen 158 (2013): 119-34.

Ehrman, Bart G. Forgery and Counterforgery: The Use of Literary Deceit in Early Christian Polemics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013.

Goodrich, John K. “Overseers as Stewards and the Qualifications for Leadership in the Pastoral Epistles.” Zeitschrift fur die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der alteren Kirche 14 (2013): 77–97.

Harding, Mark. “The Pastoral Epistles.” Pages 328–52 in All Things to All Cultures: Paul among Jews, Greeks, and Romans. Edited by Mark Harding and Alanna Nobbs. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2013.

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.

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

Krumbiegel, Friedemann. Erziehung in den Pastoralbriefen: Ein Konzept zur Konsolidierung der Gemeinden. Arbeiten zur Bibel und ihrer Geschichte 44. Leipzig: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, 2013.

Lappenga, Benjamin J. “‘Zealots for Good Works’: The Polemical Repercussions of the Word ζηλωτήςin Titus 2:14.” Catholic Biblical Quarterly 75 (2013): 704-18.

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.

Maier, Harry O. Picturing Paul in Empire: Imperial Image, Text and Persuasion in Colossians, Ephesians and the Pastoral Epistles. London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2013.

Malina, Bruce J. and John J. Pilch. Social-Science Commentary on the Deutero-Pauline Letters. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2013

Martin, Brice. “1 Timothy 3:16—A New Perspective.” Evangelical Quarterly 85 (2013): 105–20.

Nullens, Patrick. “Theologia caritatis and the Moral Authority of Scripture: Approaching 2 Timothy 3:16-17 with a Hermeneutic of Love.” European Journal of Theology 22 (2013): 38-49.

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.

Pate, C. Marvin. “The Pastorals: Hellenistic Religion, the Imperial Cult, Philonic Mystical Exegesis, and Paul’s Inaugurated Eschatology.” Pages 257-292 in Apostle of the Last Days: The Life, Letters, and Theology of Paul. Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2013.

Pietersen, Lloyd K. “2 Timothy 3:10-17 and a Spirituality of Persecution.” Pages 233-52 in The Bible and Spirituality: Exploratory Essays in Reading Scripture Spiritually. Edited by Andrew T. Lincoln, J. Gordon McConville, and Lloyd K. Pietersen. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2013.

Rosner, Brian S. Paul and the Law: Keeping the Commandments of God. New Studies in Biblical Theology 31. Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2013.

Schreiner, Thomas R. “‘Problematic Texts’ for Definite Atonement in the Pastoral and General Epistles.” Pages 375–97 in From Heaven He Came and Sought Her: Definite Atonement in Historical, Biblical, Theological, and Pastoral Perspective. Edited by David Gibson and Jonathan Gibson. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2013.

Spencer, Aida Besançon. 1 Timothy. New Covenant Commentary Series. Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2013.

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

Spurgeon, Andrew B. “1 Timothy 2:13-15: Paul’s Retelling of Genesis 2:4-4:1.” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 56:3 (September 2013): 543-556.

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

Stiekes, Gregory J. “Liturgy in the Pastoral Epistles.” Artistic Theologian 2 (2013): 37–50.

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.

________. “Israel- und Jerusalem-Vergessenheit im Corpus Pastorale? Zur Rezeption des Römerbriefs im Titus- sowie im 1. und 2. Timotheusbrief.” Pages 317-412 in Ancient Perspectives on Paul. Edited by Tobias Nicklas, Andreas Merkt, and Joseph Verheyden. Novum Testamentum et Orbis Antiquus 102. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2013.

________. “Von den Presbytern zum Episkopos (Tit 1,5–9): Vom umgang mit Spannungen und Widersprüchen im Corpus Pastorale.” Zeitschrift für die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft 104 (2013): 208–237.

Twelftree, Graham. “The Remembered Paul.” Pages 272-303 in Paul and the Miraculous: A Historical Reconstruction. Grand Rapids, 2013.

Weidemann, Hans-Ulrich. “‘Jedoch, ich fand Erbarmen . . .’ (1Tim 1,13). Bekehrung und Indienstnahme des Paulus in den Pastoralbriefen.” Pages 59-95 in Ancient Perspectives on Paul. Edited by Tobias Nicklas, Andreas Merkt, and Joseph Verheyden. Novum Testamentum et Orbis Antiquus 102. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2013.

________. “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.

Wilder, Terry L. “Does the Bible Contain Forgeries?” Pages 166–181 in In Defense of the Bible: A Comprehensive Apologetic for the Authority of Scripture. Edited by Steven B. Cowan and Terry L. Wilder. Nashville: B&H, 2013.

Zamfir, Korinna. Men and Women in the Household of God: A Contextual Approach to Roles and Ministries in the Pastoral Epistles. Novum Testamentum et Orbis Antiquus / Studien zur Umwelt des Neuen Testaments 103. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2013.

Stott on 2 Timothy, Free!

May 19, 2014 / Ray Van Neste

John Stott’s exposition of 2 Timothy, published just over 40 years ago, remains one of the best pastoral expositions of this letter available. And, now you can get an ebook copy of this commentary for free from IVP! Go to this link, sign up and then you can download the commentary. Thanks to IVP for making such a wonderful resource available in this way.

Summary of recent Dutch Dissertation on Ethical Instruction in the PE

February 20, 2014 / Ray Van Neste

Klinker-De Klerk, Myriam. Herderlijke regel of inburgeringscursus? Een bijdrage aan het onderzoek naar de ethische richtlijnen in 1 Timoteüs en Titus [Pastoral Rule or Lesson on Assimilation? A Contribution to the Research on the Ethical Instructions in 1 Timothy and Titus]. Zoetermeer: Boekencentrum Academic, 2013.

Students of the Pastoral Epistles who do not read Dutch will be glad to know that an English-language summary of this dissertation has been provided in Journal for the Study of Paul and His Letters 3.2 (2013): 263-67. Here, I’ll merely provide a summary of the summary. Page references are to the summary in JSPL, not the dissertation itself.

In her dissertation, Klinker-De Klerk addresses the common assumption that the PE witness to a christliche Bürgerlichkeit, a “bourgeois Christianity” that encourages an accommodation to prevailing social conventions as Christians hunker down for a stay in this present world which is longer than first expected. Reading the PE as authentically Pauline, she examines the ethical instructions in 1 Timothy and Titus, focusing on the area of male-female relationships. First, she works “internally,” examining the regulations of 1Tim/Titus against prevailing social conventions. Along the way, she gives particular attention to the stated motives behind the regulations. Second, she works “externally,” comparing the regulations in question with those in an undisputed Pauline letter, 1 Corinthians.

Her findings:

(1) “The examined instructions in 1 Timothy and Titus correspond highly to the prevailing ethics at the time.” (264)

(2) “The motives that accompany the regulations in 1 Timothy and Titus are diverse,” and include both internally and externally oriented motives. (264-65)

(3) “The idea of the church preparing for a long-term stay in this world is nowhere explicitly stated.” (265)

(4) Comparing 1Tim/Tit to 1Cor highlights marital fidelity (1 Tim 3:2, 12; 5:9; Titus 1:6; 1 Cor 7:1-7) and subordination of the wife to the husband (1 Tim 2:8—3:1a; Titus 2:4-5; 1 Cor 11:2-16; 14:33b-36). In this regard, “1 Timothy and Titus do not point to an increased adaptation to social conventions.” (265)

(5) Motivational parallels exist between 1Tim/Tit and 1Cor. “In both cases, the apostle provides for an ‘ontological’ reasoning by recalling the story of creation. Further, in both cases there is a ‘practical’ reasoning that has to do with the ‘internal’ concern for the orderly course of the Christian meetings on the one hand and with the ‘external’ concern for the attractiveness of Christianity to outsiders on the other hand.” (265)

(6) Although both 1Tim/Tit and 1Cor highlight the male-female relationship from an “outer” perspective—“what is said about the relationship is viewed within a broader social perspective”—1 Cor also gives particular attention to the “inner” perspective, emphasizing reciprocity. (265)

(7) Differences between 1Tim/Tit and 1Cor are most notable as regards motivation. (a) The “ontological” reasoning is applied to women and men (i.e., more “equally”) in 1Cor. (b) Honor/shame discourse is stronger in 1Cor. (c) Motivations to marital fidelity vary, due to the varying contexts of the instruction: in 1Tim/Tit, the context is the need for irreproachable conduct for various groups in the church, which conduct is “in turn, motivated by reasons of community stability and the public image of the Christians”; in 1Cor, the motive for marital fidelity is “the desire to prevent sin.” (265-66)

(8) Understanding the PE as actual Pauline letters to co-workers provides a reasonable explanation for the points of contrast between 1Tim/Titus and 1Cor.

All in all, there are significant points of contact between the ethical instructions in view in 1Tim/Titus and 1Cor, while “the differences can be accounted for by the different audiences and the practical orientation of the letters.” (266) Klinker-De Klerck is rather narrowly focused in her treatment, so rightly notes that her results do not in themselves invalidate the christliche Bürgerlichkeit hypothesis. All the same, her findings do not support it.

[Guest post from Chuck Bumgardner]

Abraham Malherbe and the Pastoral Epistles (Guest Post)

February 3, 2014 / Ray Van Neste

This is a guest post from Chuck Bumgardner, who is currently working on a PhD in New Testament at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.

At the time of his passing in 2012, Abraham Malherbe was working on a commentary on the Pastoral Epistles that was to replace Dibelius/Conzelmann in the Hermeneia series (as of last August when I checked, Fortress had not chosen a new author). His contribution to the literature would have been most welcome, given his scholarly acumen and his previous Pastorals research. I wanted to note here that most of his already-published engagement with the Pastorals, which was scattered rather widely, has been gathered into the first volume of a just-published collection of his essays:

Light from the Gentiles: Hellenistic Philosophy and Early Christianity. Collected Essays, 1959-2012, by Abraham J. Malherbe. Edited by Carl R. Holladay, John T. Fitzgerald, Gregory E. Sterling, and James W. Thompson. 2 volumes. Supplements to Novum Testamentum 150. Leiden: Brill, 2014. (ISBN 978-90-04-25339-1)

The following essays are in Light from the Gentiles. I’ve provided original publication data.

“‘Christ Jesus Came into the World to Save Sinners’: Soteriology in the Pastoral Epistles.” Pages 331-58 in Salvation in the New Testament: Perspectives on Soteriology. Edited by Jan G. van der Watt. Novum Testamentum Supplements 121. Leiden: Brill, 2005.

“Godliness, Self-Sufficiency, Greed, and the Enjoyment of Wealth. 1 Timothy 6:3-19: Part I.” Novum Testamentum 52 (2010): 376-405.

“Godliness, Self-Sufficiency, Greed, and the Enjoyment of Wealth. 1 Timothy 6:3-19: Part II.” Novum Testamentum 53 (2011): 73-96.

“How to Treat Old Women and Old Men: The Use of Philosophical Traditions and Scripture in 1 Timothy 5.” Pages 263-90 in Scripture and Traditions: Essays on Early Judaism and Christianity in Honor of Carl R. Holladay. Supplements to Novum Testamentum 129. Leiden: Brill, 2008.

“‘In Season and Out of Season’: 2 Timothy 4:2.” Journal of Biblical Literature 103 (1982): 23-41.

“Medical Imagery in the Pastoral Epistles.” Pages 19-35 in Texts and Testaments: Critical Essays on the Bible and Early Church Fathers. Edited by W. E. March. San Antonio: Trinity University Press, 1980.

“Overseers as Household Managers in the Pastoral Epistles.” Pages 72-88 in Text, Image, and Christians in the Graeco-Roman World: A Festschrift in Honor of David Lee Balch. Edited by Aliou Cissé Niang and Carolyn Osiek. Princeton Theological Monograph Series 176. Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2012.

“Paraenesis in the Epistle to Titus.” Pages 297-317 in Early Christian Paraenesis in Context. Edited by James Starr and Troels Engberg-Pederson. Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft 125. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2004.

“Paulus Senex.” Restoration Quarterly 36 (1994): 197-207.

“The Virtus Feminarum in 1 Timothy 2:9-15.” Pages 45-65 in Renewing Tradition: Studies in Texts and Contexts in Honor of James W. Thompson. Edited by Mark W. Hamilton, Thomas H. Olbricht, and Jeffrey Peterson. Princeton Theological Monograph Series 65. Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2007.