Category: Pastoral Epistles|Titus (Page 3 of 6)

Stevens, “Paul as the Originator of Women Teachers within Religious Circles”

April 7, 2022 /

An essay focusing on Titus 2:3–5 has recently been published:

Chris S. Stevens, “Paul as the Originator of Women Teachers within Religious Circles.” Pages 149–64 in Gods, Spirits, and Worship in the Greco-Roman World and Early Christianity. Edited by Craig A. Evans and Adam Z. Wright. Studies in Scripture in Early Judaism and Christianity 23. London: T&T Clark, 2022.

A preview is available on Academia. The first paragraph of the essay provides an overview: “Contemporary debates concerning the roles of males and females within the local church have diverted from the positive elements concerning corporate roles for all members within the Christian community. Taking a step back and addressing this important issue is important for contemporary theological debates, especially concerning the position of women within the local church. The focus of this chapter is to help situate female involvement within the Christian community with principal attention given to the largely ignored text of Tit. 2:3–5.”

The preface to the volume also summarizes the essay: “Chris Stevens explores in what ways Paul promoted (or held back?) women in teaching roles. He examines Tit. 2:3–5, which he regards as understudied, and reviews some of the cults centered on female deities or cults, whose memberships were mostly female, such as that associated with Dionysus, as well as interesting figures such as Hypatia. He also reviews the limited roles of women in Second Temple Judaism. In light of this backdrop, Stevens concludes that far from holding women back, which was all too common in late antique societies, Paul was a ‘radical originator of women teaching within the religious community.’”

Van Nes, “Second-Century Vocabulary in the Pastoral Epistles? A Reassessment”

April 6, 2022 /

A recent article of interest to Pastorals researchers:

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

Abstract: “Many contemporary New Testament scholars consider 1–2 Timothy and Titus, collectively known as the Pastoral Epistles (PE), to be pseudonymous. Some of them do so on the basis of the PE’s comparatively large number of hapax legomena (hapaxes), which they believe is closer to writings of the second century AD. The aim of this study is to reconsider this influential thesis as advocated by P.N. Harrison over the course of the twentieth century. It will be argued that the (statistical) evidence presented by Harrison is flawed as he gives no proper definition of hapaxes, 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 paper will (1) provide a proper definition of hapaxes, (2) count how many of these hapaxes recur in all Greek second-century writings classified 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 undisputed Pauline letters share significantly more hapaxes with these second-century writings.”

Genade, “Life in the Pastoral Epistles”

March 5, 2022 /

Aldred A. Genade, “Life in the Pauline Letters (3): Life in the Pastoral Epistles.” Pages 109–27 in Biblical Theology of Life in the New Testament. Edited by Francois P. Viljoen and Albert J. Coetsee. Reformed Theology in Africa Series 6. Cape Town: AOSIS, 2021.

Aldred Genade has contributed a chapter on the Pastorals to a volume presenting a NT theology of life. The volume is open-source and is available in full here.

Genade’s other contributions to Pastorals literature include:

Aldred A. Genade. “The Letter to Titus in Recent Scholarship: A Critical Overview.” Currents in Biblical Research 9.1 (2010): 48–62. https://doi.org/10.1177/1476993X09360726

________. Persuading the Cretans: A Text-Generated Persuasion Analysis of the Letter to Titus. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2011.

________. “Titus 3:3 as selfvilifikasie: ‘n Retoriese opsie [Titus 3:3 as Self-vilification: A Rhetorical Option].” Verbum et Ecclesia 31 (2010), article 346. https://doi.org/10.4102/ve.v31i1.346

Schmidt, “Drei aus zweiter Hand: Die Pastoralbriefe und ihre Autoren”

March 1, 2022 /

A lengthy piece has recently been published on the authorship of the Pastoral Epistles:

Schmidt, Karl Matthias. “Drei aus zweiter Hand: Die Pastoralbriefe und ihre Autoren.” Studien zum Neuen Testament and seiner Umwelt A 46 (2021): 71–151.

Abstract: “Within a discussion on the literary form of the Pastoral Epistles becoming more complex this essay gets in line with those interpretations, which assume three pseudepigrapha, written by three different authors. Form and contents suggest that the letter to Titus is based on the Second Letter to Timothy and that the First Letter to Timothy is depending on both predecessors.”

The Pastorals in New Testament Abstracts 65.3

February 23, 2022 /

The following entries in New Testament Abstracts 65.3 may be of interest to researchers in the Pastorals.

1002. Philippe Van den Heede. “La participation à la mort du Christ par le baptême (Rm 6,3–11): Une conception pré-paulinienne (Rm 6,8; 2 Tm 2,11).” Revue Biblique 128.1 (2021): 99–115. (notice)

1035. Raymond F. Collins. “Paul in the Pastoral Epistles: A Life Well Lived.” The Bible Today 59.5 (2021): 308–15.

1036. Mary Ann Getty. “Elders and Widows.” The Bible Today 59.5 (2021): 301–7.

1037. Romeo Popa. “Ethic als Vermittlung zwischen Generationen in den Pastoralbriefen.” Sacra Scripta 18.1 (2020): 70–96.

1038. Mary Schieferstein. “Formation, Deception, and Childbearing: Reading 1 Timothy 2:13–3:1a in Light of Genesis 2–4.” Presbyterion 47.1 (2021): 112–20.

1039. Edward Mazich. “Lois and Eunice: Faith of Our Mothers.” The Bible Today 59.4 (2021): 242–48.

1040. T. Christopher Hoklotubbe. “Civilized Christ-Followers among Barbaric Cretans and Superstitious Judeans: Negotiating Ethnic Hierarchies in Titus 1:10–14.” Journal of Biblical Literature 140.2 (2021): 369–90. (notice)

1068. Michael Theobald. “Kirche im Neuen Testament.” Zeitschrift für Theologie und Kirche 117.4 (2020): 377–402. [note Pastorals on pp. 406–7]

(p. 437) Abraham M. Antony and Jose Varickasseril, eds. An Affable Pastor: A Commemorative Volume in Honour of Archbishop Dominic Jala SDB. Shillong, India: Vendrame Institute Publications, 2020. [note the article by Abraham M. Antony on the credentials of the episkopos in 1 Tim 3:1–7 in the context of the Pastoral Epistles]

(p. 438) Benjamin H. Dunning, ed. The Oxford Handbook of New Testament, Gender, and Sexuality. Oxford Handbooks. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019. [note Jorunn Økland, “Pauline Letters,” pp. 315–32, with the Pastorals discussed on pp. 325–26]

(p. 444) Robert W. Wall. Studies in Canonical Criticism: Reading the New Testament as Scripture. Library of New Testament Studies 615. London: T&T Clark, 2020. [note “Reading the Pauline Pastorals in Canonical Context,” pp. 93–126, which is excerpted from Wall and Steele, 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus]

(p. 454) Martin Wright. The Dividing Wall: Ephesians and the Integrity of the Corpus Paulinum. Library of New Testament Studies 646. London: T&T Clark, 2021.

(p. 455) Jaime Clark-Soles. Women in the Bible. Interpretation Resources for the Use of Scripture in the Church. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2020. [note chap. 10, “The Muting of Paul and His Female Coworkers: Women in the Deutero-Pauline Epistles,” pp. 281–306]

(p. 457) E. Elizabeth Johnson. Ecclesiology in the New Testament. Core Biblical Studies. Nashville: Abingdon, 2020.

(p. 457) Dorothy A. Lee. The Ministry of Women in the New Testament: Reclaiming the Biblical Vision. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2021. [*Note the treatments of 1 Tim 2:11–15; 3:2–12 in chap. 6, “Paul’s Letters: Key Texts”]

(p. 458) William A. Simmons. The Holy Spirit in the New Testament: A Pentecostal Guide. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2021. [note chap. 13: “The Holy Spirit in the Pastoral Epistles: The Spirit of Power, Love and Self-Control,” 161–72]

(p. 467) Karl-Heinrich Ostmeyer and Adrian Wypadlo, eds. Das Ziel vor Augen: Sport und Wittkampf im Neuen Testament und seiner Umwelt. Beiträge zur Wissenschaft vom Alten und Neuen Testament 226. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 2020. [note Thomas Söding, “Der Sport des Apostels: Die Dialektik von Kampf und Seig auf dem Weg von Phil 3 zu 2 Tim 4,” pp. 81–100]

Porter, Pastoral Epistles, forthcoming 2022

February 13, 2022 /

I’ve known of Stan Porter’s forthcoming commentary on the Pastorals, but noticed it “officially” in Baker’s academic catalog today. Here’s the webpage. Per Baker, hardcover will be available in August 2022, e-book in November. Amazon, though, says Kindle version will be available 8/16/22 and hardcover 11/15/22.

Publisher’s blurb:

“New Testament scholar Stanley Porter offers a comprehensive commentary on the Pastoral Epistles that features rigorous biblical scholarship and emphasizes Greek language and linguistics.

“This book breaks new ground in its interpretation of the Pastoral Epistles by focusing on the Greek text and utilizing a linguistically informed exegetical method that draws on various elements in contemporary language study. Porter pays attention to the overall argument of each book while also delving into the semantics and lexicogrammar to tease out the textual meaning. Attentive to the history of scholarship on these three controversial works, the commentary addresses the major exegetical issues that arise in numerous highly disputed passages and offers innovative answers to traditional exegetical problems. Professors, students, and scholars of the New Testament will value this substantive work.”

Herzer, Die Pastoralbriefe und das Vermächtnis des Paulus

February 8, 2022 /

An important volume of collected essays on the Pastorals is now available:

Jens Herzer, Die Pastoralbriefe und das Vermächtnis des Paulus: Studien zu den Briefen an Timotheus und Titus [The Pastoral Epistles and Paul’s Legacy: Studies on the Letters to Timothy and Titus]. Edited by Jan Quenstedt. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 476. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2022.

Jens Herzer has been writing on the Pastorals for nearly twenty years. It is largely his work which has spurred the continuing discussion about reading the letters individually as opposed to corpus-reading them (Michaela Engelmann, Unzertrennliche Drillinge?, a published dissertation completed under Herzer, should also be mentioned here). As he puts it in the volume introduction, “In my view, a decisive methodological prerequisite for an adequate view of the Pastoral Epistles is to dissolve their all too close ‘relationship’ and to perceive them in their own profile” (“Eine entscheidende methodische Voraussetzung für eine angemessene Sicht auf die Pastoralbriefe besteht aus meiner Sicht darin, ihre allzu enge ‘Verwandtschaft’ aufzulösen und die Briefe in ihrem je eigenen Profil wahrzunehmen”) (3).

Herzer’s scholarly literary output vis-à-vis the Pastorals has brought him to the highest rank in terms of sheer number of publications, a circle which includes Raymond Collins, Giuseppe De Virgilio, Michael Gourgues, Luke Timothy Johnson, Abraham Malherbe, Cesare Marcheselli-Casale, I. Howard Marshall, Yann Redalié, Ceslas Spicq, Michael Theobald, Philip Towner, Manabu Tsuji, and Korinna Zamfir. Students of the Pastorals will recognize that most of these scholars have also built upon earlier publications with a commentary on one or more of the letters (Malherbe was working on the Pastorals volume in Hermeneia at the time of his passing, and Tsuji’s Bokkai Shokan should be available soon). Likewise, Herzer is at work on the Pastorals volume in the Theologischer Handkommentar zum Neuen Testament, replacing the volume by Gottfried Holtz (1965; 5th ed., 1992). Indeed, as Herzer notes in the volume introduction [English translation by DeepL], it was his commission to produce this THKNT volume over twenty years ago which led to his various publications on the Pastorals, which in turn will, of course, inform the commentary.

As will be seen from the table of contents at the end of this post, the twenty essays (with one exception) are in German; English-language abstracts are, however, provided at the end of the volume (523–30). All of the essays have been published previously except the last (“Ethik, Ethos und die Wahrheit”), which is slated for publication in the delayed WUNT volume gathering the proceedings of the 2019 “Ethics in Titus” conference. Because the essays have been slightly revised (though in non-substantive ways) for republication, scholarly work should now normally cite them from this volume if possible, not from their original published locations.

Edited volumes of essays on the Pastorals are not unknown, but not common:

  • Reimund Bieringer, ed. 2 Timothy and Titus Reconsidered / Der 2. Timotheus- und der Titusbrief in neuem Licht. Colloquium Oecumenicum Paulinum 20. Leuven: Peeters, 2018.
  • Giuseppe de Virgilio, ed. Il deposito della fede: Timoteo e Tito. Supplementi alla Rivista Biblica 34. Bologna: Dehoniane, 1998.
  • Karl Paul Donfried, ed. 1 Timothy Reconsidered. Colloquium Oecumenicum Paulinum 18. Leuven: Peeters, 2008.
  • Andreas J. Köstenberger and Terry L. Wilder, eds. Entrusted with the Gospel: Paul’s Theology in the Pastoral Epistles. Nashville: B&H, 2010.
  • Andreas J. Köstenberger and Thomas R. Schreiner, eds. Women in the Church: An Interpretation and Application of 1 Timothy 2:9–15. 3rd ed. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2016.
  • Ἡ πνευματική παρακαταθήκη τοῦ Ἀποστόλου Παύλου. Ποιμαντικές Ἐπιστολές [The Spiritual Depository of Paul the Apostle: Pastoral Epistles]. Εἰσηγήσεις ΙΑ´ Συνάξεως Ὀρθοδόξων Βιβλικῶν Θεολόγων: Λευκάδα 25–28 Σεπτεμβρίου 2003 (Thessaloniki: privately published, 2004).
  • Hans-Ulrich Weidemann and Wilfried Eisele, eds. Ein Meisterschüler: Titus und sein Brief. Michael Theobald zum 60. Gerburtstag. Stuttgarter Bibelstudien 214. Stuttgart: Katholisches Bibelwerk, 2008.

Fickenscher, “A Rank-Based Analysis of Word Order and Codification in the Greek of the Pastoral Epistles”

January 25, 2022 /

A recent dissertation may be of interest to students of the Pastorals, especially those interested in questions of the authorship of the letters:

James Fickenscher, “A Rank-Based Analysis of Word Order and Codification in the Greek of the Pastoral Epistles.” PhD diss., Concordia Seminary, 2022.

The dissertation was completed under the direction of James Voelz. Voelz is not a specialist in the Pastorals, but I have used his 2-volume commentary on Mark (Concordia Commentaries; 2013, 2019) with profit. Here is the abstract:

“The relationship of word order and clausal structures with meaning, literary style, and authorial considerations in New Testament Greek is an often underdeveloped yet important field for reading, understanding, and interpreting the New Testament text. Navigating between a grammatical-historical and historical-critical reading of the New Testament, this dissertation analyzes the phenomena of word order and clausal structures afresh through the lens of systemic functional grammar, following the work of Michael Halliday. This project contributes a preliminary step forward in constructing a method that can account for and understand the purpose of word order patterns and variance from those patterns within New Testament Greek without presuming that variations are simply for emphasis or that they arise from a priori assumptions of an historical or authorial nature behind the text. As an initial test case, this dissertation explores the Pastoral Epistles, chosen due to their similarity in content, genre, and register, constructing a linguistic profile for each work that includes the codified patterns of word order and structure on the ranks of larger sections of text, individual clauses, and word groups within each clause that have a discrete, syntactical function. It is shown that a fuller understanding of word order, especially where variations or marked syntax occurs, both contributes to an overall analysis of the text, including issues of textual criticism and interpretation, as well as identifies multiple causes for changes in word order beyond simple emphasis. The phenomenon of rank shift, where a clause functions as a single, syntactical element within another clause, also impacts expected patterns of word order and clausal structure. This study then compares the linguistic profiles of Pastoral Epistles to one another and to other select texts of the New Testament, demonstrating both areas of general consistency and difference between the works. This suggests that some patterns under investigation are likely not significant for inter-textual discussions of literary style, provenance, or register, but many areas of word order do have potential import for larger analysis of literary or historical considerations as they are manifested within each work on a strictly linguistic basis.”

The entire dissertation is available here.

Cook, “Titus 1,12: Epimenides, Ancient Christian Scholars, Zeus’s Death, and the Cretan Paradox”

December 21, 2021 /

Titus 1:12 has received disproportionate scholarly attention in the letter to Titus, both because of its citation of a pagan writer and its early example of what is often called the “liar paradox.” John Granger Cook has contributed a new treatment of the verse to the literature:

John Granger Cook, “Titus 1,12: Epimenides, Ancient Christian Scholars, Zeus’s Death, and the Cretan Paradox.” Zeitschrift für Antikes Christentum / Journal of Ancient Christianity 25.3 (2021): 367–94. https://doi.org/10.1515/zac-2021-0032

Abstract: “Many logicians and exegetes have read Titus 1,12 as an example of the Liar’s Paradox without paying sufficient attention to the nature of ancient oracular utterance. Instead of reading the verse as a logical puzzle, it should be read from its ancient context in the history of religions—a context of which ancient Christian scholars were aware. The Syriac scholars preserved a shocking Cretan tradition about Zeus’s death that probably goes back to Theodore of Mopsuestia. The god responsible for Epimenides’ oracle presumably rejected the Cretan tradition of Zeus’s death and tomb. The truth value of 1,12 consequently depends on the oracle and not the human being (i. e., Epimenides) who delivers the oracle. A reading sensitive to the history of religions preserves the Pauline author’s perspective in Titus 1,13: ἡ μαρτυρία αὕτη ἐστὶν ἀληθής. There is, consequently, a strong analogy between Caiaphas’s words in John 11:49–50 and those of Epimenides in Titus 1,12.”

_____________

As an aside, other literature focusing on this verse includes (chronologically) the following:

Lemme, Ludwig. “Über Tit 1,12.” Theologische Studien und Kritiken 55 (1882): 133–44.

Harris, J. Rendel, “The Cretans Always Liars.” The Expositor, 7th series, 2.4 (1906): 305–17; “A Further Note on the Cretans.” The Expositor, 7th series, 3 (1907): 332–37; “St. Paul and Epimenides.” The Expositor, 8th series, 4 (1912): 348–53; “Once More the Cretans.” The Expositor 8.9 (1915): 29–35.

Anderson, Alan Ross, “St. Paul’s Epistle to Titus.” Pages 1–11 in The Paradox of the Liar. Edited by Robert L. Martin. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1970.

Renehan, R. “Classical Greek Quotations in the New Testament.” Pages 17–46 in The Heritage of the Early Church: Essays in Honor of the Very Reverend Georges Vasilievich Florovsky. Edited by D. Neiman and M. Schatkin. OCA 195. Rome: Institutum Studiorum Orientalium, 1973.

Folliet, G. “Les citations de Actes 17,28 et Tite 1,12 chez Augustin.” Revue des Études Augustiniennes 11 (1965): 293–95.

Lee, G. M. “Epimenides in the Epistle to Titus (1:12).” Novum Testamentum 22 (1980): 96.

Appel, Włodzimierz. “Epimenides [Tt 1,12].” Filomata (Kraków) 362 (1984): 221-30.

Zimmer, Christoph. “Die Lügner-Antinonie in Titus 1,12.” Linguistica Biblica (Bonn) 59 (1987): 77–99.

Stegemann, Wolfgang. “Anti-Semitic and Racist Prejudices in Titus 1:10–16.” Pages 271–294 in Ethnicity and the Bible. Edited by Mark G. Brett. Biblical Interpretation Series 19. Leiden: Brill, 1996. Translation of “Antisemitische und rassistische Vorurteile in Titus 1,10–16.” Kirche und Israel 11 (1996): 46‒61.

Kidd, Reggie M. “Titus as Apologia: Grace for Liars, Beasts, and Bellies.” Horizons in Biblical Theology 21.2 (1999): 185–209.

Faber, Riemer. “‘Evil Beasts, Lazy Gluttons’: A Neglected Theme in the Epistle to Titus.” Westminster Theological Journal 67 (2005): 135–45.

Thiselton, Anthony C. “The Logical Role of the Liar Paradox in Titus 1:12, 13: A Dissent from the Commentaries in the Light of Philosophical and Logical Analysis.” Biblical Intepretation 2 (1994): 207–23. Reprinted as “Does the Bible Call All Cretans Liars? ‘The Logical Role of the Liar Paradox in Titus 1:12, 13: A Dissent from the Commentaries in the Light of Philosophical and Logical Analysis.’” Pages 217–28 in Thiselton on Hermeneutics: Collected Works with New Essays. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2006.

Gray, Patrick. “The Liar Paradox and the Letter to Titus.” Catholic Biblical Quarterly 69.2 (2007): 302–14.

Vogel, Manuel. “Die Kreterpolemik des Titusbriefes und die antike Ethnographie.” Zeitschrift für die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft 101 (2010): 252–66.

Koskenniemi, Erkki. “The Famous Liar and the Apostolic Truth.” Filologia Neotestamentaria 24.44 (2011): 59–69.

Wittkowsky, Vadim. “‘Pagane’ Zitate im Neuen Testament.” Novum Testamentum 51 (2009): 107–26; Warum zitieren frühchristliche Autoren pagane Texte? Zur Entstehung und Ausformung einer literarischen Tradition. Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft 218. Berlin: de Gruyter, 2015.

Szabó, Attila. “Páli paradoxonok avagy ‘szolgálati’ paradoxonok.” Studia Universitatis Babeș-Bolyai. Theologia reformata Transylvaniensis 60.1 (2015): 84–122.

Harrill, J. Albert. “‘Without Lies or Deception’: Oracular Claims to Truth in the Epistle to Titus.” New Testament Studies 63.3 (2017): 451–72.

Allen, Isaiah Luke. “Paul the Bigot? Reading the Cretan Quotation of Titus 1:12 in Light of Relevance Theory.” PhD thesis, Middlesex University / London School of Theology, 2019.

Hoklotubbe, T. Christopher. “Civilized Christ-Followers among Barbaric Cretans and Superstitious Judeans: Negotiating Ethnic Hierarchies in Titus 1:10-14.” Journal of Biblical Literature 140.2 (2021): 369–90.

The Pastorals in Interpretation 75.4

November 24, 2021 /

Every so often, a scholarly journal will devote an entire issue to the Pastorals. The current issue of Interpretation does so (TOC), and contains the following articles:

MacDonald, Margaret Y. “Education and the Household in the Pastoral Epistles.” Interpretation 75.4 (2021): 283–93. (https://doi.org/10.1177/00209643211027768) Abstract: “The article examines the convergence of studies on the Pastoral Epistles, with greater attention to the theme of education as a key to the purpose of the documents. The close association between the household and education is considered in an effort to shed light on the presentations of Timothy and Titus, emerging leadership roles, intergenerational instruction, and constructions of gender.”

Huizenga, Annette. “Idealized Motherhood: Examples of the Gendered Worldview of the Pastoral Letters.” Interpretation 75.4 (2021): 294–304. (https://doi.org/10.1177%2F00209643211027765) Abstract: “In the Pastoral Letters, the roles and practices of mothering in a domestic household serve as benchmarks for the general instructions on how ‘one ought to behave in the household of God’ (1 Tim 3:15). This article examines several passages in 1–2 Timothy and Titus in which the author employs an idealized and stereotypical view of motherhood in order to persuade female believers to fulfill this socially-appropriate condition and to restrict them from leadership positions in the community.”

Kartzow, Marianne Bjelland. “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) Abstract: “The widows of the Pastoral Epistles (1 Tim 5:3–16) have been a puzzle for interpreters for generations. In the ‘Widows’ Tale’ different categories of women are given a whole set of instructions, including how they shall be organized and with whom to live. In this article, I will highlight the interpretative potential of the very last verse of the paragraph, where ‘a believing woman who has widows’ is mentioned. In some important manuscripts, scribes have added ‘believing man’ in v. 16, while others have left out the woman altogether. What can these disagreements and changes tell? I will argue that not enough scholarly attention has been directed to this verse. There is huge potential for a new understanding of the whole paragraph hidden here. Attention to alternative housing arrangements and manuscript variations will be employed as interpretative tools. I will use the disagreement among scribes to rethink variety and difference, and to reimagine ekklēsia within intersectional early Christian households.”

Fortune, Marie M. “Is Nothing Sacred? I Timothy and Clergy Sexual Abuse.” Interpretation 75.4 (2021): 317–27. (https://doi.org/10.1177/00209643211027764) Abstract: “1 Timothy and the Pastoral Letters appear to be efforts to codify structure and roles in the early church. These efforts largely reflected the patriarchal social structures of the time and as such are not relevant to the twenty-first-century church. But some of the concerns identified herein, for example expectations of church leaders, are useful for a current discussion. What is missing is any acknowledgement of the potential for identified church leaders to take advantage of vulnerable congregants, particularly women and children. How might the writer of 1 Timothy have addressed this serious problem in the churches?”

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