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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.”

Kohl festschrift articles

December 26, 2022 / Chuck Bumgardner

A recently published festschrift for Manfred Kohl contains two articles on the Pastorals:

Paul Sanders, “Lifelong Learners in the School of Grace: The Pedagogy of Grace.” Pages 411–24 in “Be Focused … Use Common Sense … Overcome Excuses and Stupidity”: Festschrift in Honor of Dr. Manfred Waldemar Kohl on the Occasion of His 80th Birthday; Essays on Holistic Biblical Ministries. Edited by Reuben van Rensburg, Zoltan Erdey, and Thomas Schirrmacher. Bonn: Verlag für Kultur und Wissenschaft, 2022.

Kevin G. Smith, “Faithful Ministry: An Exposition of 2 Timothy.” Pages 279–93 in “Be Focused … Use Common Sense … Overcome Excuses and Stupidity”: Festschrift in Honor of Dr. Manfred Waldemar Kohl on the Occasion of His 80th Birthday; Essays on Holistic Biblical Ministries. Edited by Reuben van Rensburg, Zoltan Erdey, and Thomas Schirrmacher. Bonn: Verlag für Kultur und Wissenschaft, 2022.

A PDF of the entire volume can be found here.

Pastorals at archive.org

December 26, 2022 / Chuck Bumgardner

You may have been unaware, as I was until yesterday, that a good number of Pastorals commentaries and monographs are available in full at archive.org. With a free account, you can “borrow” the volumes for an hour at a time, renewable every hour pending availability.

Bartsch, Die Anfänge urchristlicher Rechtsbildungen: Studien zu den Pastoralbriefen

Beker, Heirs of Paul. Their Legacy in the New Testament and the Church Today

Brandt, Das anvertraute Gut. Eine Einführung in die Briefe an Timotheus und Titus

Brox, Die Pastoralbriefe: 1 Timotheus, 2 Timotheus, Titus (RNT) (note this is the 1969 4th edition, not the 1989 5th edition)

Dibelius, Die Pastoralbriefe (HNT) (note this is the 1966 4th and final edition, revised by Hans Conzelmann)

Donelson, Colossians, Ephesians, 1 and 2 Timothy, and Titus

Fruendorfer, “Die Pastoralbriefe,” in K. Staab and J. Fruendorfer, Die Thessalonicherbriefe, die Gefangenschaftsbriefe und die Pastoralbriefe (RNT)

Glaser, Paulus als Briefroman erzählt: Studien zum antiken Briefroman und seiner christlichen Rezeption in den Pastoralbriefen

Guthrie, The Pastoral Epistles, rev. ed. (TNTC)

Hanson, The Pastoral Letters (CBC)

Harding, What Are They Saying about the Pastoral Epistles?

Harrison, The Problem of the Pastoral Epistles

Holtz, Die Pastoralbriefe (THKNT) (note this is the 1965 edition; the final edition of Holtz was the 5th, published in 1992)

Houlden, The Pastoral Epistles

Huizenga, Moral Education for Women in the Pastoral and Pythagorean Letters: Philosophers of the Household

Jeremias, Die Briefe an Timotheus und Titus (NTD) (note this is an early edition from 1947; the 12th and latest edition is from 1981)

Johnson, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus (KPG)

Karris, The Pastoral Epistles (NTM)

Kelly, A Commentary on the Pastoral Epistles

Kidd, Wealth and Beneficence in the Pastoral Epistles

Knight, The Faithful Sayings in the Pastoral Letters

Köstenberger, Schreiner, and Baldwin, eds. Women in the Church: A Fresh Analysis of 1 Timothy 2:9–15 (1st ed., 1995)

Kroger and Kroger, I Suffer Not a Woman: Rethinking 1 Timothy 2:11-15 in Light of Ancient Evidence

Lau, Manifest in Flesh: The Epiphany Christology of the Pastoral Epistles

de Lestapis, L’énigme des Pastorales de Saint Paul

Liefeld, 1 & 2 Timothy / Titus (NIVAC)

Lütgert, Die Irrlehrer der Pastoralbriefe

MacDonald, The Legend and the Apostle: The Battle for Paul in Story and Canon

MacDonald, The Pauline Churches: A Socio-Historical Study of Institutionalism in the Pauline and Deutero-Pauline Writings

Maier, Die Hauptprobleme der Pastoralbriefe Pauli

Malina and Pilch, Social-Science Commentary on the Deutero-Pauline Letters

Martin, Pauli Testamentum: 2 Timothy and the Last Words of Moses

Meinertz, Die Pastoralbriefe des heiligen Paulus

Merz, Die fiktive Selbstauslegung des Paulus: Intertextuelle Studien zur Intention und Rezeption der Pastoralbriefe

Metzger, Der Christushymnus 1. Timotheus 3,16: Fragment einer Homologie der paulinischen Gemeinden

Mounce, The Pastoral Epistles (WBC)

Oberlinner, Die Pastoralbriefe: Kommentar zum Titusbrief (HTKNT)

Oberlinner, Die Pastoralbriefe: Kommentar zum zweiten Timotheusbrief (HTKNT)

Oden, First and Second Timothy and Titus (IBC)

Quinn, The Letter to Titus (AB)

Ramos, I Timoteo, II Timoteo, y Tito

Ridderbos, De Pastorale brieven

Schlarb, Die gesunde Lehre. Häresie und Wahrheit im Spiegel der Pastoralbriefe

Schlatter, Die Kirche der Griechen im Urteil des Paulus: Eine Auslegung seiner Briefe an Timotheus und Titus (note this is the 1958 second edition; a third edition was published in 1983)

Schwarz, Bürgerliches Christentum im Neuen Testament? eine Studie zu Ethik, Amt und Recht in den Pastoralbriefen

Spain, The Letters of Paul to Timothy and Titus

Spicq, Les Épîtres pastorales (note this is the 1943 edition, which I believe is the 1st edition. Typically, the 4th edition from 1969 is used for scholarly work)

Taylor, “1 and 2 Timothy, Titus,” in The Deutero-Pauline Letters: Ephesians, Colossians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus

Thurston, The Widows: A Women’s Ministry in the Early Church

Towner, The Letters to Timothy and Titus (NICNT)

Trummer, Die Paulustradition der Pastoralbriefe

Wagener, Die Ordnung des “Hauses Gottes.” Der Ort von Frauen in der Ekklesiologie und Ethik des Pastoralbriefe

Wilson, Luke and the Pastoral Epistles

Wolter, Die Pastoralbriefe als Paulustradition

Wright, Paul for Everyone: The Pastoral Letters

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.

The Pastorals in New Testament Abstracts 66.2

November 15, 2022 / Chuck Bumgardner

The following items listed in New Testament Abstracts 66.2 (2022) may be of interest to Pastorals scholars.

615. L’ubomir Majtán, “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.

673. Michel Gourgues, “‘…Lui qui veut que tous soient sauvés et arrivent à la connaissance de la vérité’ (1 Tm 2,4). Quelle vérité?” Science et Esprit 73.1–2 (2021): 65–77.

674. Adam Booth, “Paul among the Physicians: 1 Tim 2:15 and Salvation in a Context of Contested Health Claims.” Revue Biblique 128.4 (2021): 593–608.

675. Christian Schramm, “Der ‘Mantel des Paulus’ (2 Tim 4,13): vergessen, zurückgelassen, deponiert? Eine Notiz mit Autorisierungspotenzial.” Biblische Zeitschrift 65.1 (2021): 86–110.

676. John G. 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

712. Ricardo Sanjurjo Otero, “El origen del término πρεσβύτερος, entre Pablo y la tercera generación Cristiana.” Estudios Biblicos 79.3 (2021): 469–95.

791. Perkins, Larry J., and Spencer Elliott. “The Use of οἰκία/οἶκος in Greek Exodus: An Attempt to Understand Principles of Lexical Variation in Greek Exodus.” Journal of Septuagint and Cognate Studies 54 (2021): 111–27. [Perkins wrote the BHGNT volume on the Pastorals, and the variation of οἰκία/οἶκος is relevant to the Pastorals]

(p. 284) Peter Wick and Daniel Klinkmann, Bibelkunde des Neuen Testaments. 2nd ed. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 2020. [note the treatments of the Pastorals, pp. 73–79, as well as the “Exkurs zu Timotheus und Titus,” pp. 79–81, on the identity of Timothy and Titus]

(p. 302) Mark J. Keown, Discovering the New Testament: An Introduction to Its Background, Theology, and Themes, vol. 2: The Pauline Letters. Bellingham, WA: Lexham, 2021. [treatment of the Pastorals as a group, pp. 331–51]

(p. 303) Kathy Ehrensperger, “Διδάσκαλος ἐθνῶν—Pauline Trajectories According to 1 Timothy.” Pages 88–104 in The Early Reception of Paul the Second Temple Jew: Text, Narrative and Reception History. Edited by Isaac W. Oliver and Gabriele Boccaccini with Joshua Scott. Library of Second Temple Studies 92. London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2020.

(p. 307) Andrea Taschl-Erber, “Gottesbilder in den Deuteropaulinen: Metaphernrezeption im Kontext von Bildfeldtraditionen.” Pages 187–216 in Gottes-Bilder: Zur Metaphorik biblischer Gottesrede. Beiträge zur Wissenschaft vom Alten und Neuen Testament 232. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 2022.

(p. 308) Seth M. Ehorn, “Exodus in the Disputed Pauline Letters.” In Exodus in the New Testament. Edited by Seth M. Ehorn. Library of New Testament Studies. London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2022.

(p. 309) Siker, Jeffrey, Sin in the New Testament. Essentials of Biblical Studies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019. [pp. 137–38 on the Pastorals.]

(p. 316) Allan T. Georgia, Gaming Greekness: Cultural Agonism among Christians and Jews in the Roman Empire. Gorgias Studies in Early Christianity and Patristics 76. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias, 2020. [note section 2 in chap. 3, “The Evolution of ἀγῶνες in the Pauline Tradition,” esp. “Venues of Competition in the Pastoral Epistles,” pp. 121–29; and section 3 in chap. 3, “Paul and the Critique of Magic and Popular Cult Practices in the Acts of the Apostles and the Pastoral Epistles,” esp. “Characterizing Paul’s Adversaries in the Pastoral Epistles,” pp. 143–149]

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.

Padilla, The Pastoral Epistles (TNTC)

October 27, 2022 / Chuck Bumgardner

The well-known TNTC series — Tyndale New Testament Commentaries — is releasing a new commentary on the Pastoral Epistles by Osvaldo Padilla.

The new volume replaces a former treatment of the letters by Donald Guthrie (1916–1992), who mounted a robust defense of Pauline authorship in his 1957 TNTC volume (2nd ed., 1990), one of the first in the series. Guthrie was not a prolific author of Pastorals literature, but well-known for what he did write in that vein. Pertinent works included The Pastorals and the Mind of Paul (London: Tyndale, 1955); “The Development of the Idea of Canonical Pseudepigrapha in New Testament Criticism,” Vox Evangelica 1 (1962): 43–59; and his treatment of the letters in his well-known New Testament Introduction, published and revised in various editions from the 1960s to the final 4th edition in 1990. He also contributed articles on the Pastorals to the New Bible Dictionary. His New Testament Theology thoroughly incorporates the Pastorals as Pauline, but is structured such that there is little in the way of distinct treatment of the letters.

I will formally review Padilla’s volume in the future, but will simply note here its release. Osvaldo Padilla is professor of divinity at Beeson Divinity School. The Pastoral Epistles is “the first time I have written in the ‘genre’ of the commentary” (ix), although he has published The Acts of the Apostles: Interpretation, History and Theology (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2016). From my initial glance through the volume, he writes as a defender of the letters’ authenticity, as would be expected in the TNTC series (1–16), and as an egalitarian (cf. 97–98). Highlighting these points is not meant to minimize other aspects of the volume, simply to to note two areas that are often of significant interest in a Pastorals commentary. I am grateful to IVP for providing a review copy.

Pastoral Epistles