Category: New Testament (Page 2 of 4)

The Pastorals in NTA 65.1

July 13, 2021 / Chuck Bumgardner

The current issue of New Testament Abstracts lists the following entries which substantively engage the Letters to Timothy and Titus:

226. Hoag, Gary G. “Demystifying Gender Issues in 1 Timothy 2:9–15, with Help from Artemis.” Evangelical Review of Theology 44.3 (2020): 242–49.

227. Kidson, Lyn. “Fasting, Bodily Care, and the Widows of 1 Timothy 5:3–15.” Early Christianity 11.2 (2020): 191–205.

(p. 120) Theobald, Michael. “Von ‘Menchlichen Satzungen’ (Jes 29,13) Befreit: Eine nachpaulinische Tradition (Kol 2,20–23; Tit 1,14f) im Licht von Jesus-Worden (Mk 7).” Pages 95–120 in Bestimmte Freiheit: Festschrift für Christof Landmesser zum 60. Geburtstag. Edited by Martin Bauspieß, Johannes U. Beck, and Friederike Portenhauser. Arbeiten zur Bibel und ihrer Geschichte. Leipzig: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, 2020.

(pp. 120–21) Wall, Robert W., and W. D. Shiell. Introduction and commentary for 1-2 Timothy in Baylor Annotated Study Bible: New Revised Standard Version. Edited by W. H. Bellinger and T. D. Still. Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2019.

(pp. 120-21) Wall, Robert W., and D. Brooks. Introduction and commentary for Titus in Baylor Annotated Study Bible: New Revised Standard Version. Edited by W. H. Bellinger and T. D. Still. Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2019.

(p. 132) Dettwiler, Andreas. “Pastoral Epistles.” Pages 19–26 in The Reception of Jesus in the First Three Centuries, vol. 2: From Thomas to Tatian: Christian Literary Receptions of Jesus in the Second and Third Centuries CE. Edited by Jens Schröter and Christine Jacobi. New York: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2020.

(pp. 141–42) Kidson, Lyn M. Persuading Shipwrecked Men: Rhetorical Strategies in 1 Timothy. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 2/526. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2020.

Tomczyk, “Wealth as Generosity in Giving: Linguistic and Theological Study of 1Tim 6:17–19”

July 8, 2021 / Chuck Bumgardner

I gratefully acknowledge the help of Dominik Tomczyk for his assistance in all things Pastorals-related in the Polish language (and there are many!). He has recently published an article on 1 Timothy 6:17–19 (which happens to connect topically with this year’s ETS theme):

Tomczyk, Dominik. “Bogactwo jako hojność dawania. Analiza lingwistyczno-teologiczna 1Tm 6,17–19 / Wealth as Generosity in Giving: Linguistic and Theological Study of 1Tm 6:17–19.” Wrocławski Przegląd Teologiczny [Wrocław Theological Review] 29.1 (2021): 71–93.

The article is in Polish, but has an English-language abstract (reproduced below), and I found that the pdf translated reasonably well using Google Translate — enough to get the gist of the article. Note also that in the first footnote there is a good bibliography of earlier treatments of the article’s passage of interest. The article is available at Academia.

Abstract: The author of the article provides a linguistic and theological study of
the text from 1Tm 6:17-19, which is a sort of “instruction” offered by the author of the Letter on the Christian attitude towards wealth. Each one of these three verses is analysed separately. The paper draws the reader’s attention to the fact that the material riches owned by a man is a gift from God and brings with itself a threefold accountability: to man, to society and to God. The text under study underlines two main components of wealth which are captured by the adjectives εὐμετάδοτος (generosity beyond measure) and κοινωνικός (the social dimension of wealth). God’s intention for providing men with tangible assets (wealth) is, primarily, doing good to others, also by generous sharing of their possessions. We should perceive wealth from the eschatological point of view which ought to influence the present attitude of wealthy people. A rich man should put his trust not in ephemeral and temporary things but in God who is everlasting and eternal. He is the source of all abundance and wealth. Rich Christians should imitate God in His universal attitude of sharing with everybody.

Allen, Discourse Analysis of the Pastoral Epistles

April 12, 2021 / Chuck Bumgardner

Isaiah Allen, “Pastoral Epistles.” Pages 467–519 in Discourse Analysis of the New Testament Writings. Edited by Todd A. Scacewater and Cliff Kvidahl. Dallas: Fontes, 2020.

Recently, Fontes Press released Discourse Analysis of the New Testament Writings. The edited volume provides a discourse analysis of each book of the NT, with each author explaining his or her methodology before putting it to work. The Pastorals are covered in a chapter of about fifty pages by Isaiah Allen, assistant professor of New Testament at Booth University College in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Allen’s discourse analysis of the three Pastoral Epistles goes down to the paragraph level, focusing strongly on the text with minimal interaction with secondary literature. His aim is twofold: to “describe how each paragraph relates to the whole and to its surrounding discursive context” and to “identify logical-semantic structures that have significance for interpretation” (469)—although his presentation seeks to be “interpretively non-committal” (471). His analysis engages relevance theory, which “emphasizes the context-dependency of meaning, which requires an appreciation of discourse structure” (471). Several helpful charts provide visual representation of each letter’s organization.

Wedgeworth, “Good and Proper: Paul’s Use of Nature, Custom, and Decorum in Pastoral Theology”

February 3, 2021 / Chuck Bumgardner

An interesting article which could be considered a “hidden contribution to Pastorals scholarship“:

Wedgeworth, Steven. “Good and Proper: Paul’s Use of Nature, Custom, and Decorum in Pastoral Theology.” Eikon: A Journal for Biblical Anthropology 2.2 (2020): 88–97.

Eikon is the journal of the Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, formally known as the Journal of Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. Wedgeworth’s article uses 1 Tim 2:8-15 as its primary text, thus contributing to the ever-increasing literature on that passage.

The essay does not have an abstract, but an excerpt from the beginning will serve to summarize: “This essay will investigate to what extent the Apostle Paul uses a sort of natural-law reasoning in his argument against women teaching or holding an office of authority in the church. The primary textual subject will be 1 Timothy 2:8–15, but parallel New Testament passages will be considered insofar as they provide additional support for understanding the logic of Paul’s argument. I will argue that Paul is making a kind of natural law argument, by way of custom and decorum. This is not a simple appeal to human intuition, neither is it a generalized observation of empirical data taken from nature. It is, however, an argument based on the concepts of basic honor to authority figures, an element of the natural law, and the social power of decorum, of what is proper or fitting for social relationships between men and women. These are concepts grounded in a particular philosophy of nature and the morally formative role of custom. While appropriately using language and categories from the creation order, Paul is indeed employing a particular kind of natural-law application of this biblical account in order to prescribe customary social relations between men and women in the church.”

The full issue of Eikon which includes Wedgeworth’s article is here, and an online version of the full article is here.

Reviews

August 9, 2020 / Chuck Bumgardner

It’s been some time since we’ve noted reviews, so there are quite a few to highlight. Over at RBL, Robert Yarbrough’s Pillar commentary on the Pastorals is still available for review by SBL members.

In Expository Times 131.3 (2019): 128-29, Paul Foster provides a positive review of Gerald Bray’s ITC volume, The Pastoral Epistles.

Jermo van Nes’s Pauline Language and the Pastoral Epistles: A Study of Linguistic Variation in the Corpus Paulinum (Linguistic Biblical Studies 16; Leiden: Brill, 2018) has been recently reviewed or summarized in: (1) Journal of Theological Studies 70.2 (2019): 817-19, by Christopher Hutson; (2) Svensk exegetisk årsbok 84 (2019): 257-60, by Tobias Hägerland (the review is in English); (3) Theologische Literaturzeitung 144:7-8 (2019): 768-69 by Bernhard Mutschler; (4) Journal for the Study of the New Testament 41.5 (2019): 84, by Dirk Jongkind.

Dorothee Dettinger’s Neues Leben in der alten Welt: Der Beitrag frühchristlicher Schriften des späten ersten Jahrhunderts zum Diskursüber familiäre Strukturen in der griechisch-römischen Welt (Arbeiten zur Bibel und ihrer Geschichte 59. Leipzig: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, 2017), which has a significant Pastorals component, was reviewed by Martin Stowasser at Biblische Bücherschau (5/2019).

Christopher Hoklotubbe’s Civilized Piety: The Rhetoric of Pietas in the Pastoral Epistles and the Roman Empire (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2017) was reviewed by Raymond Collins in Interpretation 73.3 (2019): 313-14.

Cynthia Long Westfall’s Paul and Gender: Reclaiming the Apostle’s Vision for Men and Women in Christ (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2016), which engages the Pastorals at some length, is reviewed by Guy Prentiss Waters in Reformed Theological Review 78.3 (2019): 233-35.

Christoph Stenschke reviews Friedemann Krumbiegel, Erziehung in den Pastoralbriefen: Ein Konzept zur Konsolidierung der Gemeinden (Arbeiten zur Bibel und ihrer Geschichte 44; Leipzig: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, 2013), appears in Filologia Neotestamentaria 52.32 (2019): 177-79. The review is in English, which is a boon for English-speaking Pastorals students; other reviews are in German: one by Lorenz Oberlinner in Biblische Zeitschrift 59.2 (2015): 300-4; and one by Karl-Heinrich Ostmeyer in Theologische Literaturzeitung 139.7-8 (2014): 891-93.

Robert Yarbrough’s commentary, The Letters to Timothy and Titus (Pillar New Testament Commentary; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2018), was reviewed by Benjamin Laird in JETS 62.4 (2019): 844-47; by James P. Sweeney in BBR 30.1 (2020): 158-161; and by Philip J. Long at Reading Acts (2018)

Keener, “Greek vs. Jewish Conceptions of Inspiration and 2 Timothy 3:16”

June 18, 2020 / Chuck Bumgardner

Craig Keener has an article in the current issue of JETS which will be of interest to students of the Letters to Timothy and Titus:

Keener, Craig S. “Greek Versus Jewish Conceptions of Inspiration and 2 Timothy 3:16.” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 63.2 (2020): 217–31.

Abstract: Second Timothy 3:16 speaks of Scripture as θεόπνευστος, “God-breathed,” “inspired.” What would ancient audiences who heard such a claim assume that it entailed regarding accuracy? For many Greek hearers, inspiration entailed divine authority, including on basic historical matters, although some Greek thinkers allowed poetic inspiration without such accuracy. Jewish application of inspiration language to Scripture, however, apparently always entailed its authority and accuracy. Although Jewish interpreters applied various approaches to reconcile or even sidestep apparent conflicts in biblical narratives, their understanding of its inspired authority entailed reliance on Scripture’s truthfulness on all matters that it addressed.

de Wet, Slavery and Asceticism in 1 Timothy

December 26, 2019 / Chuck Bumgardner

Chris de Wet, Associate Professor of New Testament and Early Christian Studies at the University of South Africa (Academia page), has produced a new article of potential interest to students of the Pastorals:

Chris L. de Wet, “Slavery and Asceticism in 1 Timothy,” Neotestamentica 53.2 (2019): 395-419.

Abstract: “This article examines the statements about slavery in 1 Timothy in the context of early Christian asceticism. While these statements about slavery have been subjected to numerous scholarly evaluations, the possible relationship between slavery and asceticism in 1 Timothy is yet to be investigated. Along with providing a status quaestionis related to asceticism in 1 Timothy, the study first delineates aspects about early Jewish-Christian asceticism that form the backdrop to 1 Timothy. Thereafter, ascetic dispositions towards slavery are analysed in detail, with special attention given to groups like the Essenes and Therapeutae, gnostic ascetic groups and especially Marcionite views about slavery. The main point that is then argued is that 1 Timothy represents an alternative ascetic discourse and practice, according to which the status of slaves, along with that of women, is not negated. Rather, 1 Timothy provides a vision of Christian asceticism that is popular, moderate and domestic in nature. Slaves do play a role in this form of asceticism, but like the women in the community, slaves are relegated mostly to subservient positions, without any probable change in their social status and circumstances of daily life.”

Van Nes, “Who are ‘Our People’ (οἱ ἡμέτεροι) in Titus 3,14?”

December 18, 2019 / Chuck Bumgardner

Jermo van Nes has produced a brief article for ETL which will be of interest to students of the Pastorals:

Jermo van Nes, “Who are ‘Our People’ (οἱ ἡμέτεροι) in Titus 3,14?” Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses 95.4 (2019): 661–65.

Abstract: ” All but one contemporary commentator on Titus interprets οἱ ἡμέτεροι in 3,14 as referring to all Christ-believers. Endorsing yet modifying the minority view, the present study on the basis of exegetical considerations suggests that the phrase more likely refers to Artemas, Tychicus, Zenas, and Apollos mentioned in 3,12-13.”

Marossy, “The Rule of the Resurrected Messiah: Kingship Discourse in 2 Timothy 2:8–13”

December 16, 2019 / Chuck Bumgardner

In the forthcoming edition of Catholic Biblical Quarterly, Michael David Marossy has produced an article of interest to students of the Pastorals: “The Rule of the Resurrected Messiah: Kingship Discourse in 2 Timothy 2:8-13,” CBQ 82.1 (2020): 84-100.

Abstract: “This article contributes to recent discussion on the role of kingship discourse in shaping Pauline participation in Christ by analyzing the role of kingship discourse in the neglected text that most clearly ties together the themes of kingship discourse and participatory soteriology in the Pauline corpus, namely, 2 Tim 2:8–13. In response to Joshua Jipp’s argument that Paul utilized and adapted the metaphorical framework of kingship discourse in the Scriptures to present participation in Christ as participation in the kingdom of “Christ the King,” I argue that in 2 Tim 2:8–13, the metaphorical framework of kingship discourse is employed to describe Jesus as the resurrected Davidic Messiah-king, whose reign is characterized by the narrative of his victory over death.”

Stenschke, “‘Einer Frau gestatte ich nicht, dass sie lehre’ (1 Timotheus 2:12): Exegese – Hermeneutik – Kirche”

December 2, 2019 / Chuck Bumgardner

Christoph Stenschke, professor at the University of South Africa, has published a new article on 1 Timothy 2:12, available online:

Stenschke, Christoph W. “‘Einer Frau gestatte ich nicht, dass sie lehre’ (1 Timotheus 2:12): Exegese – Hermeneutik – Kirche.” HTS Theological Studies 75.3 (2019): 1–14.

The abstract is provided in English: “This article is an exercise in combining the exegesis, hermeneutical issues and application of 1 Timothy 2:12 in ecclesial contexts where this prohibition is still taken seriously as a Pauline injunction or, at least, as part of the canon of the Church. It surveys representative proposals in New Testament studies of dealing with this least compromising assertion regarding the teaching of women in early Christianity. It discusses the hermeneutical issues involved in exegesis and application and how one should relate this prohibition to other New Testament references to women and their role in the early Christian communities. In closing, the article discusses whether and how this assertion can still be relevant in contemporary contexts when and where women have a very different role in society and church.”