Category: Pastoral Epistles (Page 4 of 22)

Jodamus, “(Con)texturing Ideologies of Modesty, Authority, and Childbearing in 1 Timothy 2:8–15”

December 27, 2022 / Chuck Bumgardner

Another addition to the literature on 1 Timothy 2 has appeared:

Jonathan Jodamus. “(Con)texturing Ideologies of Modesty, Authority, and Childbearing in 1 Timothy 2:8–15.” Journal of Early Christian History 12.3 (2022): 59–78. https://doi.org/10.1080/2222582X.2022.2146520

Abstract: “Feminist and gender critical biblical scholarship has shown how texts ideologically function as products of their ancient social and cultural norms. In my dissertation work on Pauline texts, through isolating the ideological component of socio-rhetorical-interpretation, I demonstrated how these texts are “ideologically textured” within their ancient social context. In this article, I bring a combination of approaches from ideological criticism and theoretical insights from feminist criticism to bear on both the biblical text of 1 Timothy 2:8–15 and contemporary interpretations of this text. The latter is exemplified by the conservative Christian blogger, “The Transformed Wife.” Beginning with an examination of how both Paul and the blogger establish authority amongst believing communities, I then interrogate three areas of focus within their ideological purview: modesty, authority, and childbearing. I conclude that (con)texturing (a taxonomy of approaches that I propose which reads for ideological texture within text and context) provides a productive way to engage with the enduring influence of biblical texts and their harmful interpretations for wo/men.”

White, “Setting the Boundaries”

December 21, 2022 / Chuck Bumgardner

A new article on 1 Timothy and Titus may be of interest to Pastorals scholars:

Adam G. White, “Setting the Boundaries: Reading 1 Timothy and Titus as Community Charters.” Biblical Theology Bulletin 52.4 (2022): 242–52. https://doi.org/10.1177/01461079221133447

This is the published version of research presented at the 2021 SBL meeting. White recently published Paul, Community, and Discipline: Establishing Boundaries and Dealing with the Disorderly, Paul in Critical Context (Minneapolis: Lexington/Fortress Academic, 2021), which has a chapter on the Pastorals (“Establishing Traditions: Discipline and Expulsion in the Pastoral Epistles,” pp. 217–32).

Here’s the abstract: “Those attempting to interpret 1 Timothy and Titus face a myriad of uncertainties. No less amongst these is determining the type of the literature that they are. While they are clearly framed as epistles, they do not resemble anything that is known from the Hellenistic literary theorists. What is generally agreed, however, is that the purpose of the two letters is community formation. That is, 1 Timothy and Titus were written to instruct the recipients on various matters of community structure and organisation. Building on this assumption, it is my contention that the two letters share many of the same characteristics as community charters found in similar, contemporary groups. In what follows, 1 Timothy and Titus will be compared side by side with formal charters found in associations as well as in the Essene community, noting the many similarities between them.”

Percival, “The Plan of Salvation in the Letters to Timothy and Titus”

December 19, 2022 / Chuck Bumgardner

John Percival has finished up his Cambridge PhD thesis on the Pastorals, and researchers in the Pastorals will want to engage his work in their own where they can. Because of the nature of the project, it will be germane to other research done throughout all three letters. This is true not only for the thesis’s main area of investigation, the plan of salvation, but also in the way it examines distinctions among the three letters.

Here’s the abstract:

“The New Testament letters to Timothy and Titus (LTT) are often lumped together as ‘The Pastoral Epistles.’ While there are understandable reasons for this approach, it has meant that the distinctive contribution of each of the three letters has not been sufficiently considered. Furthermore, narrative approaches to the Pauline letters have led to fruitful explorations of their theology, especially from a salvation-historical perspective, but these approaches have not been applied to the LTT, at least in part due to their marginal status in the conversation. Taken together, this has impoverished our understanding of the theology and purpose of the LTT.
“Therefore, this thesis employs a narrative approach to examine the salvation-historical outlook of each of the LTT. This is accomplished by adopting minimal assumptions about authorship and reviewing each letter in turn, describing the components of a narrative ‘plan of salvation.’ The relationship between the elements of the plan is examined so as to shed light on the narrative world, theology and, especially, the rhetorical purpose of the letter. For such short letters, there is a wealth of data and clear differences between the three. Thus we are able to identify areas where the letters have been misrepresented or misunderstood in scholarly literature, offering a fresh and creative contribution to scholarship on the LTT. The outcome is a clearer understanding of the distinctive contribution of each letter, particularly in terms of the plan of salvation as conceived from a narrative perspective.”

For more information, see this Cambridge repository page.

Aich, “Allusive Echoes Between Jeremiah 36 LXX and 1 Timothy 2:1–2”

December 16, 2022 / Chuck Bumgardner

Benjamin Aich has produced an article which will be of interest to researchers in 1 Timothy, especially those who are interested in the use of the OT in the Pastorals.

Benjamin Aich. “Allusive Echoes Between Jeremiah 36 LXX and 1 Timothy 2:1–2: An Inner-Biblical Study.” Restoration Quarterly 65.1 (2023): 1–15.

“Since Thomas Aquinas, many commentators on the Pastoral Epistles have noted some sort of echo or allusion to Jer 29:7 (36:7 LXX) in the paraenesis of 1 Tim 2:1–2 . But before Aquinas, Augustine brought the literary, theological, and exilic context of Jer 36 LXX to bear on his discussion of 1 Tim 2:1–2 (Catech. 21.37; cf. Faust. 12.36). Exploring such features, as Augustine did, is only the natural result of noting a reference or an allusion to one verse in a specific context. However, Augustine’s example of broad engagement has been severely neglected. Combating this trend, I investigate the allusion to Jer 36:7 LXX in 1 Tim 2:1–2 in order to understand the broader interplay between the texts, so that students, scholars, and clergy would grasp how Jer 36 LXX might serve and illumine 1 Timothy’s discourse.”

Aich has made his article available at his Academia page.

Kidson, “Naming 1 Timothy 3.16b”

December 10, 2022 / Chuck Bumgardner

Lyn Kidson has added to the considerable amount of secondary literature on 1 Timothy 3:16:

Lyn Kidson, “Naming 1 Timothy 3:16b: A ‘Hymn’ by Another Name?” New Testament Studies 69.1 (2023): 46–56. https://doi.org/10.1017/S002868852200025X

Abstract: Most scholars assume that 1 Timothy 3.16b is a hymn, or a fragment of a hymn, belonging to another context. However, Furley (1995) points out that even the ancients had difficulty categorising their poetic materials. 1 Timothy 3.16b has no metre and neither praises God nor asks him for benefits, which are the usual indicators of a hymn. This article argues that 1 Timothy 3.16b was written by the writer for insertion into the letter, and it was intended to be used in his congregation as a bulwark (1 Tim 3.15) against his opponents. 1 Timothy 3.16b more closely resembles an epigram, normally written to accompany an epiphany of a god.

For earlier literature on 1 Timothy 3:16, see this earlier post.

Καλός/καλῶς in the Pastorals

October 29, 2022 / Chuck Bumgardner

“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.

The Pastorals at SBL 2022

October 26, 2022 / Chuck Bumgardner

The 2022 SBL/AAR Annual Meeting program lists the following sessions which may be of interest to Pastorals researchers:

Margaret MacDonald, “Flexible Arrangements: Uncovering the Relationship between Space and Education in the Pastoral Epistles”

Victoria Perez Rivera, “Scripturalizing the Pastorals: Exegesis and Power”

Marion Ann Taylor, “Should Women Speak/Preach? Marie Dentière, Calvin, and Farel”

Anna C. Miller and Katherine A. Shaner, “Ensouled Tools and Social Death: Resisting Re-inscription of Aristotelian Natural Slavery in 1 Timothy”

Oluwarotimi Paul Adebayo, “A Socio-rhetorical Understanding of θεόπνευστος in 2 Timothy 3:16–17 in Its Contribution to Scripture Authority”

Judy Kim, “Who is the “Heretic” (Αἱρετικός) to be Shunned?: Origen’s Understanding of the Apostolic Injunction in Titus 3:10–11”

Kidson, “Real Widows, Young Widows, and the Limits of Benefaction in 1 Timothy 5:3–16”

October 18, 2022 / Chuck Bumgardner

Lyn Kidson has produced another contribution to the discussion of widows in 1 Timothy 5. (See also her “Fasting, Bodily Care, and the Widows of 1 Timothy 5:3–15,” Early Christianity 11.2 (2020): 191–205 [DOI: 10.1628/ec-2020-0016])

Lyn Kidson, “Real Widows, Young Widows, and the Limits of Benefaction in 1 Timothy 5:3–16.” Australian Biblical Review 70 (2022): 83–100.

Abstract: John Barclay, in his 2020 article, “Household Networks and Early Christian Economics,” outlines the puzzles that “abound” in 1 Timothy 5:3–16. Among his list of puzzles, he asks, “Is it inconsistent to say that a χήρα can be registered only if she has brought up children (5.10), but to deny her support in 5:4–8 if she has children to look after? Who are the younger χῆραι that the Pastor is evidently so anxious about (5:11–15) …?” Barclay’s article has gone a long way to resolving these puzzles. The “younger χῆραι” he identifies as “virgins.” This was an anomaly in the social world of the early Christians, which forced them to adapt terms for the woman beyond puberty but was without a man. This was a χήρα. While in agreement with Barclay, this article probes a little more deeply into the problem of the younger χήρα and her dowry. It makes the proposal that if the younger χήρα is a virgin, then the issue in 1 Timothy 5 is not her ongoing support, which seems manageable for the “real widow,” but the support for the virgin who wishes to marry after she has been assigned as a qualifying χήρα.

Beale, “The Background to ‘Fight the Good Fight’ in 1 Timothy 1:18, 6:12, and 2 Timothy 4:7”

August 15, 2022 / Chuck Bumgardner

G. K. Beale is hard at work on his forthcoming Pastorals commentary in the ZECNT series, co-authored with Christopher Beetham. In the meantime, he has published a new article on the Pastorals, grounded in an SBL presentation he gave in 2021:

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. https://doi.org/10.1515/znw-2022-0011

Abstract:

The combined wording in 1 Tim 1:18 of στρατεύω + στρατεία can be rendered in English “fight the fight,” “battle the battle,” or more generally “perform military service” or “serve in a military campaign.” The combination surprisingly occurs often throughout Greco-Roman literature to express a patriotic warfare idiom for good character revealed by persevering through warfare or military campaigns. This idiom is applied to Timothy to demonstrate his good Christian character and reputation over against the false teachers’ bad character. The idiom also occurs often in a legal context to affirm a person’s character and good reputation, which qualifies a person to be an officer of the court or endorses a person’s character before the court in a legal dispute, showing him to be worthy of an innocent verdict. In 1 Timothy this idiom is used in a legal context (accompanied repeatedly by the μάρτυς word group, as in the Hellenistic occurrences of the idiom) that demonstrates and acquits Timothy’s character and reputation before the false teachers. The redundant word combination of ἀγωνίζομαι + ἀγών (“struggle the struggle”) in 1 Tim 6:12 and 2 Tim 4:7 is recognized by commentators as a development of the phrase in 1 Tim 1:18. In the Greek world, this also is a well-worn idiom used in the same way as the στρατεύω + στρατεία expression, most likely highlighting the difficulty of the fight. This is why the expression ἀγωνίζομαι + ἀγών is synonymous with the expression in 1 Tim 1:18, even with the added adjective “good.” This is also why some English translations even translate the redundant expressions in 1 Tim 1:18, 1 Tim 6:12, and 2 Tim 4:7 as “fight the good fight,” clearly seeing στρατεύω + στρατεία and ἀγωνίζομαι + ἀγών as synonymous. This lexical study of Greco-Roman backgrounds endorses the conclusion that the two expressions are idioms and are synonymous.

The Pastorals in New Testament Abstracts 66.1

July 24, 2022 / Chuck Bumgardner

The following items listed in New Testament Abstracts 66.1 (2022) may be of interest to Pastorals scholars.

218. Annette Huizenga, “Idealized Motherhood: Examples of the Gendered Worldview of the Pastoral Letters.” Interpretation 75.4 (2021): 294–304. https://doi.org/10.1177/00209643211027765

219. Margaret Y. MacDonald, “Education and the Household in the Pastoral Epistles.” Interpretation 75.4 (2021): 283–93. https://doi.org/10.1177/00209643211027768

220. Jermo Van Nes, “Second-Century Vocabulary in the Pastoral Epistles? A Reassessment.” Filología Neotestamentaria 34 (2021): 41–67.

221. Marie M. Fortune, “Is Nothing Sacred? I Timothy and Clergy Sexual Abuse.” Interpretation 75.4 (2021): 317–27. https://doi.org/10.1177/00209643211027764.

222. Marianne B. Kartzow, “The ‘Believing Woman’ and Her ekklēsia: Rethinking Intersectional Households and Manuscript Variations in the Widows’ Tale (1 Tim 5:3–16).” Interpretation 75.4 (2021): 305–16. https://doi.org/10.1177/00209643211027767

(p. 146) Andreas J. Köstenberger, 1–2 Timothy and Titus. Evangelical Biblical Theology Commentary. Bellingham, WA: Lexham, 2021.