Category: Pastoral Epistles|2 Timothy (Page 1 of 7)

Langford, Diagnosing Deviance

September 16, 2023 /

Andrew Langford’s University of Chicago dissertation, completed under the guidance of Margaret Mitchell, is now available from Mohr Siebeck. Its publication continues a recent, though doubtless inadvertent, outsized presence of Pastorals work in Mohr Siebeck’s WUNT series.

Andrew M. Langford, Diagnosing Deviance: Pathology and Polemic in the Pastoral Epistles. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 2/592. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2023.

Mohr Siebeck provides this summary: “In this study, Andrew M. Langford demonstrates that the single, post-Pauline author of the Pastoral Epistles (‘the Pastor’) crafts a stigmatizing depiction of his theological opponents by spatializing, demonizing, and pathologizing their alleged deviance. Through close comparative readings of ancient medical and philosophical literature, the author argues for the necessity of interpreting the Pastor’s pathologizing of deviance in light of ancient disease etiologies and models of corporeality. With this book, the author contributes to recent interpretive insights about the function of authorial fiction in antiquity and demonstrates that the Pastor is self-consciously appropriating the Pauline epistolary to craft his approach to his theological opponents.”

In connection with this new work, note an earlier article by Pastorals scholar Abraham Malherbe, which doubtless covers similar ground in seminal form:

Abraham J. Malherbe, “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. Reprint, pages 117–34 in vol. 1 of Light from the Gentiles: Hellenistic Philosophy and Early Christianity. Collected Essays, 1959‒2012. Edited by Carl R. Holladay, John T. Fitzgerald, Gregory E. Sterling, and James W. Thompson. Novum Testamentum Supplements 150. Leiden: Brill, 2014.

Review of Wright, Integration: A Conversation between Theological Education and the Letters to Timothy and Titus

June 26, 2023 /

Paul S. Jeon, Lecturer in NT at Reformed Theological Seminary and senior pastor at NewCity Church in Vienna, VA, has reviewed the recently published volume by David C. Wright, Integration: A Conversation between Theological Education and the Letters to Timothy and Titus, International Council for Evangelical Theological Education Series (Carlisle: Langham Global Library, 2022). The review is exclusive to this blog and may be accessed here.

The Pastorals in Bibel und Kirche 78.2 (2023)

June 25, 2023 /

The most recent edition of Bibel und Kirche, a “journal on the Bible in research and practice [Die Zeitschrift zur Bibel in Forschung und Praxis],” has taken the Pastorals as its theme. It describes its theme in this summary:

“The two letters to Timothy and the letter to Titus are the focus of this issue. In current biblical scholarship, the three letters have a decidedly poor image. A majority assumes that the sender and addressees are a literary fiction: Neither were the letters really written by Paul, nor were Timothy and Titus their real recipients.In recent years, however, there has now been renewed movement in the discussion. The Pastoral Epistles are one of the focal points of the renewed debates about dating and authorship of the New Testament writings. There is also a new discussion about the content, especially the history of impact on the image of the church, questions of office – and also on the image of women and the question of women’s offices.” (Translation from German via DeepL)

The contents include the following articles:

Stefan Krauter
Auf den zweiten Blick
Eine Hinführung zu den Pastoralbriefen

Karl Matthias Schmidt
Larven des Lehrers
Der Abschluss der neutestamentlichen Paulus-Pseudepigraphie

Joram Luttenberger
Prophetenmantel oder Bücherfutteral?
Überlegungen zu den persönlichen Notizen in den Pastoralbriefen

Ulrike Wagener
Was sollen die Außenstehenden von uns denken?
Orientierung an der Reaktion der nichtchristlichen Umwelt
in den Pastoralbriefen

Gerd Häfner
»Eine gute Aufgabe« (1 Tim 3,1)
Ämter in den Pastoralbriefen und ihre Fortschreibung
in neuen Kontexten

Angela Standhartinger
Ältere Frauen, Presbyterinnen und Witwen in den Pastoralbriefen

Bettina Eltrop
Die Israelvergessenheit der Pastoralbriefe

Barbara Lumesberger-Loisl
“Predigtberbot für Frauen – bis heute?” Ein Zwischenruf

Literatur zum Heftthema, Mitgliederforum

The Pastorals in Studies on the Paratextual Features of Early New Testament Manuscripts

April 29, 2023 /

A new volume by Brill has several articles oriented toward the Pastorals:

Studies on the Paratextual Features of Early New Testament Manuscripts. Edited by Stanley E. Porter, Chris S. Stevens, and David I. Yoon. Texts and Editions for New Testament Study. Leiden: Brill, 2023.

Solomon, S. Matthew. “Segmentation and Interpretation of Early Pauline Manuscripts.” (pp. 123–45).
“Manuscripts from the ancient world had less stereotyped formatting rules than books and media today. Unfortunately, some of these features are greatly underap-preciated for their potential interpretive value. In this paper, attention is given to how scribes of the Pauline corpus used spatial segmentation for their distinct pur-poses. The aim is to provide insights into how these scribal choices may influence the interpretation of certain texts, including 1 Cor 7:39, 14:33, Eph 5:21, 1 Tim 3:1, and Phlm 7. Finally, the chapter concludes that paragraphing and segmentation in the ancient world are quite different from today, and some of these differences are exe-getically significant.”

Tommy Wasserman and Linnea Thorp. “The Tradition and Development of the Subscriptions to 1 Timothy.” (pp. 172-201)
“This study examines the textual tradition of the subscriptions to 1 Timothy, proposing a typology based on a collation of 415 Greek manuscripts. The authors discuss the traditions about 1 Timothy reflected in the subscriptions in relation to other paratexts, internal evidence, Corpus Paulinum, Acts, and the wider church history. The creation and elaboration of subscriptions to Pauline letters, shaping the way they are read, not only satisfies human curiosity but serves to further authenticate the writings by connecting them to Paul and his circle of co-workers. The location of the letters in time and space reflects the ongoing construction of a “landscape of memory” in the early church.”

Conrad Thorup Elmelund and Tommy Wasserman. “Second Timothy: When and Where? Text and Tradition in the Subscriptions” (pp. 202–26).
“Based on full collations of the subscriptions to 2 Timothy in 485 Greek manuscripts, this study presents the textual tradition and development of these subscriptions and explains their relationship to other subscriptions, paratexts, the internal evidence in 1–2 Timothy, Acts, and the wider church history. The study tracks the source(s) be-hind the tradition that the letter was sent to Timothy, installed as the first bishop of the church of the Ephesians, sent from Rome when Paul had appeared before Nero a second time and relates this tradition to the competing ancient biographies of Paul.”

Chris S. Stevens, “Titus in P32 and Early Majuscules: Textual Reliability and Scribal Design” (pp. 267-87)
“Manuscripts in the ancient world are the products of many scribal decisions. The relationship between the final product of these scribal choices and the functionality of the text, both textual and paratextual, is easily underestimated or ignored. To move forward, this chapter conducts a process of manuscript criticism of P32. First, the textual transmission will be compared with other manuscripts for transmissional lines. Second, the paratextual features, most notably segmentation and layout, are assessed and compared across the first millennium. The results indicate the scribal transmission was highly uniform, P32 is from a multi-text codex, and the design fea-tures in Codex Sinaiticus strongly suggest a Sitz em Leben within public reading and liturgical services.”

Annual Bibliographies on the Pastorals (2023)

April 3, 2023 /

It’s that time of year again! For some years now, we’ve been compiling and posting annual bibliographies for researchers in the Letters to Timothy and Titus. These projects are intended to help researchers in the Pastorals maintain control of the secondary literature, and give some idea of research trends. Our compilation of these bibliographies involves the input of Pastorals scholars who have published previously on the letters. Our thanks to all who contributed!

Our annual bibliography of recent publications on the Letters to Timothy and Titus covers contributions from all of 2022 and early 2023. Over 170 items long and international in scope, the list contains monographs, journal articles, and commentaries, as well as lists of dissertations and conference presentations on the letters. It is available for viewing and downloading here.

Our annual bibliography of forthcoming academic publications on the Letters to Timothy and Titus is wide-ranging, containing over 60 forthcoming works on the Pastoral Epistles, including essays, monographs, and commentaries. In some cases, authors have provided a brief synopsis of their work. This bibliography is available for viewing and downloading here.

McKnight and Myers: Two new essays

April 2, 2023 /

A few years back, we posted a lengthy list of “hidden contributions” to Pastorals scholarship — treatments of the Pastorals that are a distinct subsection in a larger work, with the larger work being such that one might not suspect work on the Pastorals exists in it. Here are two more recent publications that fit that category:

McKnight, Scot. “Eusebeia as Social Respectability: The Public Life of the Christian Pastor.” Pages 161–77 in Rhetoric, History, and Theology: Interpreting the New Testament. Edited by Todd D. Still and Jason A. Myers. Lanham, MD: Lexington/Fortress, 2022.

Myers, Jason A. “Rhetoric from the Rusticas: In Search of the Historical Timothy and Implications for the Rhetoric of 1–2 Timothy.” Pages 179–200 in Rhetoric, History, and Theology: Interpreting the New Testament. Edited by Todd D. Still and Jason A. Myers. Lanham, MD: Lexington/Fortress, 2022.

Krauter, “Exilliteratur und die Gattung des Zweiten Timotheusbriefes”

April 1, 2023 /

A new article addressing the nature of 2 Timothy as a piece of writing:

Krauter, Stefan. “Exilliteratur und die Gattung des Zweiten Timotheusbriefes.” Revue Biblique 129 (2022): 183–98.

Abstract: “2 Timothy is often referred to as a pseudepigraphic testament of Paul. A minority considers it an authentic paraenetic letter. The article criticizes both positions. There are rather superficial similarities between 2 Timothy and the Jewish testaments, and the setting of the letter is not a farewell situation. Theses about 2 Timothy as a conclusion to the Pastorals or the entire corpus Paulinum are poorly substantiated. The determination of 2 Timothy as a paraenetic letter is correct, but inaccurate. Conclusions regarding its authenticity cannot be drawn from it. By comparing 2 Timothy to exilic literature of the early imperial period, it is shown that it is possible to determine its specific character as a paraentic letter from captivity. This more precise determination makes it possible to integrate the moments of truth of both common research opinions.”

Zamfir, “‘When he arrived in Rome, he eagerly searched for me!’ (2 Tim 1, 17)”

March 28, 2023 /

A recent article in 2 Timothy:

Zamfir, Korinna. “When he arrived in Rome, he eagerly searched for me!” (2 Tim 1, 17): Friends, Foes, and Networks in 2 Timothy.” Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai, Theologia Catholica 67.2 (2022): 65–88.

Abstract: The antagonistic discourse of 2 Timothy divides the community into two camps: the truthful believers and the heterodox opponents of Paul. Emphasis on cohesion, on the strong links between Paul and friends and delineation from those depicted as dangerous outsiders strengthen group identity. However, perspectives from network theory show that Christ-believers did not belong to impermeable camps. Proximity, multiplex social relations (shared family, neighbourhood, or occupational ties, worship, and commensality) created opportunities for communication and exchange. Weak ties bridged the gap between various clusters, shaping networks akin to small worlds, allowing for interactions across partisan lines and for more inclusive forms of identity.

The article is available here, though you may have to set up a free account.

Majtán, La crescita nella responsabilità di Timoteo

March 16, 2023 /

A remarkable-looking contribution that had escaped my notice until now:

L’ubomír Majtán. La crescita nella responsabilità di Timoteo. Storicità ed esemplarità di Timoteo [The growth in Timothy’s responsibility. The historicity and exemplarity of Timothy]. Rome: Angelicum University Press, 2021.

I knew of a few earlier articles produced by Majtán in Slovak and Italian, which had been noted in New Testament Abstracts:

  • “Timotej—Pavlov delegát v komunitách: Osoba delegáta v Pavlov‎‎ých listoch vo svelte grécko-rimskej korešpondencie a rabínskej halachickej literatúry” [“Timothy—Paul’s Agent in the Communities: The Status of Agent in the Pauline Epistles in the View of Greco-Roman Diplomatic Correspondence and Rabbinic Halachic Literature”]. Studia Biblica Slovaca (Bratislava) 11.1 (2019): 42–56. [Slovak]
  • “Timotej a charizma v 1Tim 4,14 Ratifikácia alebo transfer pri vkladaní rúk starších? [Timothy and Charisma in 1 Tim 4:14: A Recognition or a Transfer through the Laying on of Hands by the Elders?]” Studia Biblica Slovaca (Bratislava) 11.2 (2019): 103–19. [Slovak]
  • “Motívy obriezky Timoteja v Sk 16,1–5: Historický, etnický, a náboženský aspekt obriezky Timoteja v Skutkoch apoštolov a teologická interpretácia z pohl’adu spoločenstva prvotnej Cirkvi [Motives of Circumcision of Timothy in Acts 16:1–5: Historical, Ethnical and Religious Aspects of the Circumcision of Timothy in the Acts of the Apostles and the Theological Interpretation from the Perspective of the Early Church Community].” Studia Biblica Slovaca (Bratislava) 13.1 (2021): 74–94. [Slovak]
  • “È vero che Timoteo sostituisce Paolo a Tessalonica in 1 Ts 3,1–10? // Ali drži, da Timotej nadomesti Pavla v Tesalonikah v 1 Tes 3,1–10? // Is It True that Timothy Substitutes [for] Paul in Thessalonica in 1 Thess 3,1–10?” Bogoslovni vestnik 81.1 (2021): 47–56. [Italian]

These seem to have been preparatory for Majtán’s monograph, which I presume is a published doctoral thesis. Timothy is significant enough a figure in the New Testament that there have been numerous treatments of him in the scholarly literature, both as standalone essays and in broader treatments of Paul’s coworkers (in addition, of course, to commentary discussion). Here is a sampling of those treatments:

  • Franz X. Pölzl, Die Mitarbeiter des Weltapostels Paulus (Regensburg: G. J. Manz, 1911), 136–70.
  • William E. Hull, “The Man—Timothy,” RevExp 56 (1959): 355–66.
  • Pedro Gutiérrez, La paternité spirituelle selon saint Paul, EBib (Paris: Gabalda, 1968), 225–31 (“Fils, Disciples, Successeurs (Timothée et Tite)”).
  • E. E. Ellis, “Paul and His Co-Workers,” NTS 17 (1970–71): 437–52.
  • Wolf-Hennig Ollrog, Paulus und seine Mitarbeiter: Untersuchungen zu Theorie und Praxis der paulinischen Mission, WMANT 50 (Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener, 1979), 20–23.
  • Udo Borse, “Timotheus und Titus, Abgesandte Pauli im dienst des Evangeliums,” in Der Diakon: Wiederentdeckung und Erneuerung seines Dienstes, ed. Josef G. Plöger and Hermann J. Weber (Freiburg: Herder, 1980), 27–43 (although his aim is to show that Timothy and Titus were actually the same person, he provides along the way an excellent summary of the biblical data).
  • F. F. Bruce, The Pauline Circle (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1985), 29–34.
  • John Gillman, “Timothy,” ABD 6:558–60 (1992).
  • Margaret M. Mitchell, “New Testament Envoys in the Context of Greco-Roman Diplomatic and Epistolary Conventions: The Example of Timothy and Titus,” JBL 111.4 (1992): 641–62.
  • Christopher R. Hutson, “Was Timothy Timid? On the Rhetoric of Fearlessness (1 Corinthians 16:10–11) and Cowardice (2 Timothy 1:7),” BR 42 (1997): 58–73.
  • Giancarlo Biguzzi, “L’autore delle Lettere Pastorali e Timoteo,” in Il deposito della fede: Timoteo e Tito, ed. Giuseppe de Virgilio, RivBSup 34 (Bologna: Dehoniane, 1998), 81–112.
  • Bruce Malina, Timothy: Paul’s Closest Associate (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical, 2008), though note Mark Batluck, “Paul, Timothy, and Pauline Individualism: A Response to Bruce Malina,” in Paul and His Social Relations, ed. Stanley E. Porter and Christopher D. Land, PSt 7 (Leiden: Brill, 2012), 35-56.
  • Yann Redalié, “Timothée, le disciple à l’ombre de Paul,” LumVie 59 (2010): 21–31.
  • Hermann von Lips, Timotheus und Titus: Unterwegs für Paulus, 2nd ed., Biblische Gestalten 19 (Leipzig: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, 2010).
  • Bernhard Mutschler, “Silas/Silvanus und Timotheus als Mitarbeiter des Paulus: Eine Spurensuche in der Apostelgeschichte und im 1. Thessalonicherbrief,” Der 1. Thessalonicherbrief und die frühe Völkermission  des Paulus, ed. Ulrich Mell and Michael Tilly, WUNT 479 (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2022), 179–227.

I have not yet obtained Majtán’s monograph, but its 361-page length suggests that anyone seeking to produce a serious treatment of Timothy in the future will need to take account of it. Here is the volume’s summary in English translation (original Italian):

  • “Timothy is one of Paul’s most faithful and important collaborators. After being added to the missionary team in Acts 16:1-5, he never ceases to accompany Paul in the important stages of his apostolic work. He is mentioned in later chapters of the Acts of the Apostles as witnessing the entrance of Gentiles into the church. Taking note of the various difficulties in which the Christian communities live, Paul sends him entrusting him with the responsibility of resolving the difficult situation, the problems that arise in the Christian communities or at least to send the Apostle’s recommendations. In the balance of the following years, we can see the growth of his responsibility, so much so that Timothy, day after day, receives authority, prominence and an important role within the communities. Thus, in various moments of his life, Timothy grows in his responsibility and according to the Pastoral Letters he becomes the successor of the Apostle.” [Google Translate]

Following are the contents of the volume. Notice that though the Pastorals are mentioned only briefly in the above summary, two entire chapters consisting of 115 pages discuss Timothy in the context of 1 and 2 Timothy.

Veit-Engelmann, Die Briefe an Timotheus und Titus: Die Pastoralbriefe

March 10, 2023 /

A new commentary:

Michaela Veit-Engelmann. Die Briefe an Timotheus und Titus: Die Pastoralbriefe. Die Botschaft des Neuen Testaments. Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2022.

Veit-Engelmann has a monograph on the Pastorals to her credit, the published version of her doctoral thesis completed under the guidance of Jens Herzer, which informs her commentary work: Michaela Engelmann, Unzertrennliche Drillinge? Motivsemantische Untersuchungen zum literarischen Verhältnis der Pastoralbriefe. BZNW 192. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2012.

Veit-Engelmann’s BNT volume (see publisher’s page, with sample content) proceeds on the understanding that the three Pastoral Epistles are pseudepigraphical letters written independently by three different authors to mediate the Pauline legacy in three distinct situations: “Zielt der Titusbrief nach Kreta in eine Debatte mit jüdischen Gegnern, geriert sich der 2. Timotheusbrief als Dokument eines innerpaulinischen Schuldiskurses im kleinasiatischen Raum. Das jüngste der drei Schreiben ist der 1. Timotheusbrief; er kennt die beiden anderen Texte und spitzt ihre Inhalte für seinen antignostischen Kampf zu.”

The contents are given below. Note at the close of the volume the 25 pages of discussion of thematic emphases in the letters, as well as the various excursuses throughout the commentary.

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