Category: Pastoral Epistles|1 Timothy (Page 7 of 11)

Machado, “‘Manifestado na carne’ (1Tm 3,16)”

October 31, 2021 /

Sidney Machado, of the Faculdades Claretianas in Brazil, and visiting professor at the Pontifical Ateneo Santo Anselmo in Rome, has added to the extensive literature on 1 Timothy 3:16 with a recent article in Revista Pistis Praxis.

Sidney Damasio Machado. “‘Manifestado na carne’ (1Tm 3,16): Considerações sobre a transmissão damensagem cristã na Igreja primitive // ‘Manifested in the flesh’ (1Tm 3,16): Considerations on the Transmission of the Christian Message in the Early Church.” Revista Pistis Praxis 13.2 (2021): 758–85. (full-text article available at https://doi.org/10.7213/2175-1838.13.02.DS05)

The article is in Portuguese, but the abstract in English will provide guidance:

Abstract: The theme of epiphany/vision unifies most religious and philosophical expressions in the early Greco-Roman world. The use of the expression “manifested in the flesh” (“ἐφανερωθη ἐν σαρκί” (1Tm 3,16)) in the Pastoral Letters [is indicative] of the efforts of early Christianity to dialogue with the culture and inculturate the content of the Christian faith in the Hellenistic environment. Seeing the commitment to inculturated evangelization in the early Church constitutes an incentive and a provocation in view of an inculturated evangelization.

Heringer, “Beginning with the End: 1 Timothy 1:3–6 and Formative Theological Education”

October 6, 2021 /

Researchers in the Pastorals may be interested in a new article on moral formation as an integral part of Christian higher education. This is, to my knowledge, the first article in the five-year-old Journal of Theological Interpretation specifically focusing on a passage from the Pastorals:

Seth Heringer. “Beginning with the End: 1 Timothy 1:3–6 and Formative Theological Education.” Journal of Theological Interpretation 15.2 (2021): 365–80. https://doi.org/10.5325/jtheointe.15.2.0365

Abstract: Institutions of Christian higher education are currently facing numerous and substantial challenges pressuring them to direct resources into training students in professional skills and away from religious and moral formation. Contrary to this prevailing movement, Joel Green has emphasized that Christian education should be orientated toward the church with the goal of forming students to love God with their whole being. This article will argue that Green’s position is rooted in 1 Tim 1:3–6, where Paul juxtaposes heterodox and orthodox instruction. Heterodox instruction seeks “myths” and “genealogies,” leading to worthless arguments and the destruction of relationships. Orthodox instruction teaches about God’s ordering of the world according to his plan as revealed in the gospel. The telos of orthodox instruction is love brought about by three penultimate ends: “a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith.” If these ends are to be sought by Christian institutions, then formative instruction is a biblically mandated, essential aim that must be sought through institution-wide efforts and measured like other educational outcomes.

Review: Kuruvilla, 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus: A Theological Commentary for Preachers

July 20, 2021 /

Abraham Kuruvilla, who taught homiletics at Dallas Theological Seminary for some years and has recently taken a position as Professor of Christian Preaching at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, has added to his burgeoning collection of “theological commentaries for preachers” with a volume on the Pastorals.

Paul S. Jeon, Lecturer in NT at Reformed Theological Seminary and senior pastor at NewCity Church in Vienna, VA, has provided a review, which is exclusive to this blog and may be accessed here.

The Pastorals in NTA 65.1

July 13, 2021 /

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 /

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.

Cousland, “‘What the Thunder Said’: A Note on Charlotte Brontë’s Shirley and I Timothy 2.11–14”

July 6, 2021 /

An article for those interested in the reception history of the Pastorals, and of 1 Tim 2:8–15 in particular:

J. R. C. Cousland, “‘What the Thunder Said’: A Note on Charlotte Brontë’s Shirley and I Timothy 2.11–14.” Brontë Studies (2021). (doi) [the individual article appears to be available online without having been formally incorporated into a journal issue yet]

Abstract: Charlotte Brontë’s Shirley (1849) offers a revealing example of how she herself might interpret Scripture when she has her heroine Caroline Helstone offer an alternative reading of I Timothy 2. 11–14. Her reading is prescient in recognising the hermeneutical problems posed by the passage, but also reveals a deep-rooted dissatisfaction with the social structures that prohibit women from gaining the theological education afforded to men. Brontë’s innate conviction that women are also made in the imago dei is the propelling force in her willingness to question patriarchal narratives of Scripture.

If the title of the article intrigues you (as it did me!), you can find Brontë’s Shirley online here, and the pertinent section appears to be on pp. 270–72.

The Pastorals at the 2021 Tyndale Fellowship Conference

July 5, 2021 /

The 2021 Tyndale Fellowship Conference included two presentations on the Pastorals:

Jermo van Nes, “The Letters to Timothy and Titus: Second-Century Writings?”
Abstract: Many contemporary New Testament scholars consider 1-2 Timothy and Titus, collectively known as the Pastoral Epistles (PE), to be pseudonymous writings. Some of them do so on the basis of the PE’s comparatively large number of hapaxes, which they believe is closer to the writings of the Apostolic Fathers and early Apologists dating from the second century AD. The aim of this presentation is to reconsider this influential thesis as once advocated by P.N. Harrison (1921). It will be argued that the (statistical) evidence presented by Harrison is flawed as he gives no proper definition of hapaxes and early Apologists, unevenly compares the PE collectively to individual writings, and does not use any criteria to show how his results are statistically significant. By way of alternative, this presentation will (1) provide a proper definition of hapaxes, (2) count how many of these hapaxes recur in all Greek religious second-century writings listed as such in the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae database, and (3) by means of (simple) linear regression analysis determine whether or not 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and/or Titus in comparison to each of the other Pauline letters share significantly more hapaxes with these second-century writings. 

John Percival, “Rhetorical and Theological Strategy in the Narrative Substructure of 2 Timothy”
Abstract: This paper demonstrates that an examination of the narrative substructure of 2 Timothy sheds light on its rhetorical and theological strategy. Narrative approaches to Pauline literature and theology have borne much fruit over the last 35 years, but the letters to Timothy and Titus have, as is often the case, been largely overlooked. Rather than looking at the Pastoral Epistles as a homogenous corpus, in this paper we will consider the distinctive contribution of 2 Timothy. Focus falls on four areas: God’s pre-temporal action, the time of “the Scriptures,” the first appearing of Christ, and the second, eschatological appearing of Christ. By analysing the way these areas are presented, and how they fit together into a coherent, salvation-historical whole, we illuminate the rhetorical and theological strategy employed in 2 Timothy. Addressed to a church leader dealing with false teaching and opposition, the narrative of God’s plan of salvation offers unique resources affirming God’s eternal commitment to his people, culminating in them sharing Christ’s eschatological reign. Problems occur when narrative elements become dislocated, for example, by claiming the resurrection has already occurred. 

Allen, Discourse Analysis of the Pastoral Epistles

April 12, 2021 /

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.

Bibliography of 2020 (and Early 2021) Publications on the Pastorals

March 26, 2021 /

We have compiled our annual bibliography of recent publications on the Letters to Timothy and Titus, covering contributions from all of 2020 and early 2021. Over 100 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.

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