Tag: 1 Timothy (Page 4 of 10)

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.

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.

Baum, “Saving Wealthy Ephesian Women from a Self-Centered Way of Life (1 Tim 2:15)”

October 1, 2022 / Chuck Bumgardner

A essay on the crux of 1 Tim 2:15 in a festschrift honoring Rob van Houwelingen on the occasion of his retirement:

Armin Baum, “Saving Wealthy Ephesian Women from a Self-Centered Way of Life (1 Tim 2:15): Salvation by Childbearing in the Context of Ancient Arguments against Sexual Intercourse, Pregnancy, and Child-rearing,” in Troubling Texts in the New Testament: Essays in Honour of Rob van Houwelingen, Contributions to Exegesis and Theology (Leuven: Peeters, 2022), 257–83.

Abstract: “Many Bible readers regard the statement in 1 Timothy 2: 15 (“She will be saved through childbearing … “) as very unfair. Why did Paul (or one of his disciples) lose sight of gender equality? And is this passage not irreconcilable with passages such as Galatians 3:28, where Paul advocated the soteriological equality of the sexes, and with 1 Corinthians 7:8, where Paul encouraged unmarried women and widows to remain single? 1 Timothy 2: 15 confronts us with two exegetical challenges. First, its telegraphic style was probably quite comprehensible for Paul’s protege Timothy; but for us who are much less familiar with Paul’s thoughts, it.is much more difficult to decipher. Secondly, while for Paul, Timothy and the women concerned the concrete situation in the church of Ephesus was crystal clear, for us who are not involved and look at it from a distance of 2000 years it is anything but easy to figure out what exactly Paul was talking about. But read against its literary and historical context, l Timothy 2:15 is not a misogynistic text but rather a statement against luxury-oriented selfishness which is in conflict with the law of love.”

Helpful in this essay is a taxonomy of views regarding τεκνογονία in 2:15 (p. 260):

Baum’s final interpretive translation reveals his take on the passage: “(The luxury-minded) women (in the church of Ephesus) will be saved (from their spiritually dangerous self-centered lifestyle) by bearing children (and thereby accepting the maternal role) and by holding fast to (the basic Christian virtues of) faith, love, holiness and (particularly) chastity” (p. 280).

Smit, “Gender Trouble in 1 Tim 2:8–15”

September 29, 2022 / Chuck Bumgardner

A new essay on 1 Timothy 2:8–15 in a festschrift honoring Rob van Houwelingen on the occasion of his retirement:

Peter-Ben Smit, “Gender Trouble in 1 Tim 2:8–15,” in Troubling Texts in the New Testament: Essays in Honour of Rob van Houwelingen, Contributions to Exegesis and Theology (Leuven: Peeters, 2022), 237–56.

Abstract: “This contribution takes as its point of departure the virtues as they are mentioned in 1 Timothy 2:8–15, in particular in verse 15. Analyzing how gender is constructed through the performance of virtues, and noting that certain virtues when performed by women contribute to their autonomy, the proposal is made that, however ‘conservatively’ the author of 1 Timothy may have intended his discourse on gender in these verses, the stress on female virtue may well foster greater autonomy for these women than would have been intended by the author. The question is asked whether this text does not cause its own kind of gender trouble and, in a way, give birth to women like Thecla.”

Edwards, “‘Taken Up in Glory’”

August 23, 2022 / Chuck Bumgardner

Another article engaging 1 Timothy 3:16 is now available:

David R. Edwards, “‘Taken Up in Glory’: Early Christian Traditions of the Ascension in Light of 1 Timothy 3:16.” Journal of Early Christian History 12.2 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1080/2222582X.2022.2109052

This article is the publication of an earlier conference presentation: “‘Taken Up in Glory’: Early Christian Traditions of the Ascension of Jesus in Light of 1 Tim. 3:16.” Presentation at the Annual Meeting of the SBL, San Antonio, 21 November 2021.

Abstract: I revive a chronological approach to the hymn in 1 Timothy 3:16, a reading which has frequently been dismissed on the basis of the alleged misplacement of the ascension after the Gentile missionary movement. Behind the rejection of a chronological reading has been the normativity of the narrative of Luke- Acts—or at least a conventional reading of it. This study argues that the peculiar chronology of the hymn arose from attempts to harmonise the multiple ascension reports in Luke 24 and Acts 1 along with the tradition reported by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15. Lying behind the hymn is an interpretation of Luke- Acts as implying multiple and ongoing post-resurrection appearances and ascensions which culminate in a final ascension after the appearance to Paul, which occurs in the narrative of Luke-Acts just after the Christian proclamation expands to Gentiles through the baptism of the Ethiopian eunuch.

See this previous post for earlier bibliography on 1 Timothy 3:16.

The Pastorals in WUNT

June 17, 2022 / Chuck Bumgardner

Recently, the Pastorals seem to be having an outsized presence in Mohr Siebeck’s Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament series. The following are recently published and forthcoming volumes in WUNT 1 and and WUNT 2 which each focus solely on one or more of the Pastorals. Authorship/editorship is widespread: Australia (Kidson), Germany (Herzer, Zimmermann), Nigeria (Manomi), Switzerland (Bulundwe), USA (Langford).

Lyn Kidson, Persuading Shipwrecked Men: Rhetorical Strategies in 1 Timothy (WUNT 2/526; 2020) (RBL review) (JETS) (ABR) (JSNT)
Dogara Ishaya Manomi, Virtue Ethics in the Letter to Titus: An Interdisciplinary Study (WUNT 2/560; 2021)
Jens Herzer, Die Pastoralbriefe und das Vermächtnis des Paulus: Studien zu den Briefen an Timotheus und Titus (WUNT 476; 2022)
Ruben Zimmermann and Dogara Ishaya Manomi, eds. “Ready for Every Good Work” (Titus 3:1): Implicit Ethics in the Letter to Titus (WUNT 484; 2022)
Andrew M. Langford, Diagnosing Deviance: Pathology and Polemic in the Pastoral Epistles (WUNT 2/ ; 2022 est.)
Kampotela Luc Bulundwe, 2 Timothée dans le corpus paulinien. Analyse mémorielle (WUNT 2/ ; 2022 or 2023)

To be sure, plenty of single essays on one or more of the Pastorals have appeared in edited WUNT collections. However, before the recent spate of volumes just noted, only the following WUNT volumes (to my knowledge) focused solely on one or more of the Pastorals (or, for Trebilco and Smith, were monographs with a very significant Pastorals component):

Ulrike Wagener, Die Ordnung des “Hauses Gottes.” Der Ort von Frauen in der Ekklesiologie und Ethik des Pastoralbriefe (WUNT 2/65; 1994)
Andrew Y. Lau, Manifest in Flesh: The Epiphany Christology of the Pastoral Epistles (WUNT 2/86; 1996)
Hanna Stettler, Die Christologie der Pastoralbriefe (WUNT 2/105; 1998)
Paul R. Trebilco, The Early Christians in Ephesus from Paul to Ignatius (WUNT 166; 2004)
Bernhard Mutschler, Glaube in den Pastoralbriefen: Pistis als Mitte christlicher Existenz (WUNT 256; 2010)
Claire Smith, Pauline Communities as “Scholastic Communities”: A Study of the Vocabulary of “Teaching” in 1 Corinthians, 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus (WUNT 2/335; 2012)

The first batch of volumes above has six WUNT volumes on the Pastorals being published in around four years (2020–2023). The earlier batch of volumes, another half-dozen, spans nearly two decades (1994–2012).

Annual Bibliographies on the Pastorals

April 12, 2022 / Chuck Bumgardner

For some few years now, we have been producing annual bibliographies for researchers in the Letters to Timothy and Titus. These bibliographies are meant to help students of these letters keep up with the secondary literature, and give some idea of research trends. We compile this list each year by contacting academic publishers and 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 2021 and early 2022. Over 170 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.

Our annual bibliography of forthcoming publications on the Letters to Timothy and Titus is wide-ranging and academically oriented, 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.

Kotansky, “The Secret of the Hidden Cross: The Form, Meaning, and Background of the Hellenistic Hymn Quoted in 1 Tim. 3:16”

April 8, 2022 / Chuck Bumgardner

A new article on the intriguing 1 Timothy 3:16 is now available, intriguing in its own right:

Kotansky, Roy D. “The Secret of the Hidden Cross: The Form, Meaning, and Background of the Hellenistic Hymn Quoted in 1 Tim. 3:16.” Pages 165–200 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. https://www.doi.org/10.5040/9780567703286

Those who have researched the passage will immediately recognize the language of the title as echoing an important essay by Robert Gundry published just over a half-century ago (see below), a purposeful evocation by Kotansky. The fascinating 1 Timothy 3:16 has attracted scholarly attention for quite some time (I’ve appended some treatments at the end of this post); Kotansky rightly speaks of “the long history of exegesis that these lines have endured” (179).

From the volume introduction: “Roy Kotansky investigates the background of the Hellenistic hymn that lies behind 1 Tim. 3:16. After drawing our attention to a number of relevant artifacts and suggesting a new way to understand a difficult phrase in the verse, Kotansky concludes that this hymn is composed in such a way that it creates a visual structure whose purpose is to disguise the message of the cross, yet allow its message to be understood when recited and sung aloud.”

________

Here are a number of focused studies on 1 Tim 3:16, listed chronologically:

Ward, William H. “An Examination of the Various Readings of 1 Tim. 3:16.” Bibliotheca sacra 27 (1865): 1–50.

Klöpper, A. “Zur Christologie der Pastoralbriefe (1. Tim. 3,16).” Zeitschrift für wissenschaftliche Theologie 45 (1902): 339‒61.

Seeberg, D. A. Der Katechismus der Urchristenheit. Leipzig: A. Deichert, 1903. [Note “Dieselbe Glaubensformel und der Hymnus I Tim. 3, 16,” pp. 112–25.]

Wilson, O. R. B. “A Study of the Early Christian Credal Hymn of 1 Timothy 3:16.” PhD diss., The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1954.

Braun, R. A. “Mysterium Pietatis seu in historiam interpretationis Eusebeias vocis Pastoralium Epistolarum, speciatim 1 Tim 3.16a inquisitio atque exegetica christologici hymni 1 Tim 3,16b explanatio.” Diss., Pontificio Istituto Biblico, Rome, 1956.

Schweizer, Eduard. “Two New Testament Creeds Compared: I Corinthians 15.3–5 and I Timothy 3.16.” Pages 166–77 in Current Issues in New Testament Interpretation: Essays in Honor of Otto A. Piper. Edited by William Klassen and Graydon F. Snyder. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1962.

Kremer, Jacob. “‘Aufgenommen in Herrlichkeit’ (1 Tim 3,16): Auferstehung und Erhöhung nach dem Zeugnis der paulinischen Schriften.” Bibel und Kirche 20 (1965): 33–37.

Lachenschmid, R. “Geheimnis unseres Christseins. Das Christuslied aus 1 Tim 3,16.” Geist und Leben 39 (1966): 225–29.

Hanson, A. T. “An Academic Phrase: 1 Timothy 3.16a.” Pages 21–28 in Studies in the Pastoral Epistles. London: S.P.C.K., 1968. Reprint, Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2015.

Stenger, Werner. “Der Christushymnus in 1 Tim 3,16: Aufbau—Christologie—Sitz im Leben.” Trierer theologische Zeitschrift 78 (1969): 33–48.

Deichgräber, Reinhard. Gotteshymnus und Christushymnus in der frühen Christenheit. Untersuchung zu Form, Sprache und Stil der frühchristlichen Hymnen. Studien zur Umwelt des Neuen Testaments5. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1970.

Gundry, Robert H. “The Form, Meaning and Background of the Hymn Quoted in 1 Timothy 3:16.” Pages 203–22 in Apostolic History and the Gospel: Biblical and Historical Essays Presented to F. F. Bruce on his 60th Birthday. Edited by W. W. Gasque and R. P. Martin. Exeter: Paternoster, 1970.

Strange, J. F. “A Critical and Exegetical Study of 1 Timothy 3.16: An Essay in Traditiongeschichte.” PhD dissertation, Drew University, 1970.

O’Callaghan, José. “1 Tim 3,16; 4,1.3 en 7Q4?” Biblica 53 (1972): 362–67.

Fowler, Paul B. “Examination of I Timothy 3:16b: Its Form, Language, and Historical Background.” PhD thesis, University of Edinburgh, 1973.

Langkammer, Hugolin. “Hymn chrystologiczny 1 Tym 3,16.“ Pages 137–49 in Verbum Crucis. Kardynałowi Bolesławowi Kominkowi w hołdzie. Wrocław: Wrocławska Księgarnia Archidiecezjalna, 1974.

Stenger, Werner. “Textkritik und Schiksal (1Tim 3,16).“ Biblische Zeitschrift 19.2 (1975): 240–47.

Langkammer, Hugolin. Hymny chrystologiczne Nowego Testamentu. Najstarszy obraz Chrystusa. Attende Lectioni 3. Katowice: Kuria Diecezjalna, 1976.

Stenger, Werner. Der Christushymnus 1 Tim. 3,16. Eine Strukturanalytische Untersuchung. Regensburger Studien zur Theologie 6. Frankfurt: Lang, 1977.

Szczurek, Tadeusz. “‘Ukazał się aniołom’ (1 Tm 3, 16) [‘was seen by angels’ (1 Tim 3, 16)].” Ruch Biblijny i Liturgiczny 30.4 (1977): 195–98.

Manns, Frédéric. “L’hymne judéo-chrétien de 1 Tim. 3,16.” Euntes Docete 32.3 (1979): 323–39. = “Judeo-Christian Context of 1 Tim 3:16.” Theology Digest 29 (1981): 119–22.

Metzger, Wolfgang. Der Christushymnus 1. Timotheus 3,16: Fragment einer Homologie der paulinischen Gemeinden. Arbeiten zur Theologie 62. Stuttgart: Calwer, 1979.

Hengel, Martin. “Hymn and Christology.” Pages 173–97 in Studia Biblica 1978, III. Papers on Paul and Other New Testament Authors. Sixth International Congress on Biblical Studies. Oxford 3–7 April 1978. Edited by Elizabeth A. Livingstone. Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement Series 3. Sheffield, UK: Sheffield Academic Press, 1980.

Hugger, P. “Mission als Christusmysterium: 1 Tim 3:16.” Pages 19‒27 in Zukunft aus empfangenem Erbe: 100 Jahre benediktinische Missionsarbeit. Edited by S. Hertlein and R. Rudmann. St. Ottilien: EOS, 1983.

Murphy-O’Connor, Jerome. “Redactional Angels in 1 Tim 3:16.” Revue Biblique 91 (1984): 178–87.

Du Preez, J. “‘Angeloi’ in die lied van 1 Timoteus 3:16.” Nederduitse Gereformeerde Teologiese Tydskrif 28 (1987): 182–86.

Luke, K. “The Impact of Egyptian Ideas on the Formulation of NT Soteriology.” Bible Bhashyam 14 (1989): 185–94.

Rensburg, Fika J. van. “Die Timoteus-himne (1 Tim 3:16).” Pages 83–97 in Hymni Christiani. Edited by J. H. Barkhuizen. HTS supplementum series 1. Pretoria: Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk van Africa, 1989.

Fowl, Stephen E. The Story of Christ in the Ethics of Paul: An Analysis of the Function of the Hymnic Material in the Pauline Corpus. Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement Series 36. Sheffield, UK: Sheffield Academic Press, 1990. Reprint, Bloomsbury Academic Collections, Biblical Studies: The Epistles. London: Bloomsbury, 2015. [note chap. 7, “1 Timothy 3:16b,” 155–174; chap 8, “The Function of 1 Timothy 3:16b,” 175–210]

McClain, C. K., Jr. “A Hermeneutical Inquiry into the Raz-Pesher Motif with Application to 1 Timothy 3:16.” PhD diss., Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary, 1990.

Marcheselli-Casale, Cesare. “Gesù di Nazareth il Risorto-Asceso centro vitale della comunità ecclesiale protocristiana. Considerazioni intorno al valore pasquale di 1 Tm 3, 16.” Theologica (Annali della Pontificia Facoltà Teologica della Sardegna) 3 (1994): 235–76.

Karris, Robert J. A Symphony of New Testament Hymns: Commentary on Philippians 2:5–11, Colossians 1:15–20, Ephesians 2:14–16, 1 Timothy 3:16, Titus 3:4–7, 1 Peter 3:18–22, and 2 Timothy 2:11–13. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1996. [note chap. VI-2, “1 Timothy 3:16 — The Universality of Salvation in Christ Jesus,” 112–26]

Testa, Emmanuele. “L’inno sul sacramentum pietatis (1Tm 3, 16).” Studium Biblicum Franciscanum Liber Annuus 46 (1996): 87–100.

Kremer, Jacob. “Das einmütig geschätzte Mysterium der Frömmigkeit: Erwägungen zur Kurzformel chritlichen Glaubens in 1Tim 3,16b.“ Geist und Leben 70.2 (1997): 99–107.

Ham, C. “The Christ Hymn in 1 Timothy 3:16.” Stone-Campbell Journal 3 (2000): 209–28.

MacLeod, Donald J. “Christology in Six Lines: An Exposition of 1 Timothy 3:16.” Bibliotheca Sacra 159 (2002): 334–48.

Frary, Stephen W. “Who Was Manifested in the Flesh? A Consideration of Internal Evidence in Support of a Variant in 1 Tim 3:16a.” Filología Neotestamentaria 16 (2003): 3–18.

Nayak, I. The Mystery of Christian Life: The Christ-Hymn of 1 Tim 3,16. Rome: Urbaniana University Press, 2004.

Arichea, Daniel C., Jr. “Translating Hymnic Materials: Theology and Translation in 1 Timothy 3.16.” Bible Translator 58.4 (2007): 179–85.

Herzer, Jens. “‘Das Geheimnis der Frömmigkeit’ (1 Tim 3,16)—Sprache und Stil der Pastoralbriefe im Kontext hellenistisch-römischer Popularphilosophie—eine methodische Problemanzeige.” Theologische Quartalschrift 187.4 (2007): 309–29. = Pages 381–406 in Die Pastoralbriefe und das Vermächtnis des Paulus: Studien zu den Briefen an Timotheus und Titus. Edited by Jan Quenstedt. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 476. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2022.

DiPaolo, Lawrence. Hymn Fragments Embedded in the New Testament: Hellenistic Jewish and Greco-Roman Parallels. Lewiston, NY: Mellen, 2008.

Martin, Brice. “1 Timothy 3:16—A New Perspective.” Evangelical Quarterly 85.2 (2013): 105–20.

Trebilco, Paul R. “1 Timothy 3.16 as a Proto-Rule of Faith.” Pages 170–90 in Ears That Hear: Explorations in Theological Interpretation of the Bible. Edited by Joel B. Green and Tim Meadowcroft. Sheffield, UK: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2013.

Walker, Kevin. “Ukazao se . . . Kome? Još jedan osvrt na 1 Tim 3,16b.” Kairos: Evanđeoski teološki časopis 8.2 (2014): 155–74. = “He Appeared to Whom? Another Look at 1 Tim 3:16b.” Kairos: Evangelical Journal of Theology 8.2 (2014): 123–42.

Gordley, Matthew E. New Testament Christological Hymns: Exploring Texts, Contexts, and Significance. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2018. [1 Tim 3:16 covered on pp. 183–190]

Gonzaga, Waldecir, and Rafael Mendonça de Souza. “‘Grande é o Mistério da Piedade’: Eclesiologia e Christologia em 1 Timóteo 3,16.” Caminhos 19.2 (2021): 394–415. http://dx.doi.org/10.18224/cam.v19i2.8816

Machado, Sidney Damasio. “‘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. https://doi.org/10.7213/2175-1838.13.02.DS05

Maier, “The Entrepreneurial Widows of 1 Timothy”

April 5, 2022 / Chuck Bumgardner

A new essay on the widows of 1 Timothy has recently appeared:

Harry O. Maier, “The Entrepreneurial Widows of 1 Timothy.” Pages 59–73 in Patterns of Women’s Leadership in Early Christianity. Edited by Ilaria Ramelli and Joan Taylor. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198867067.003.0004

An earlier version of this essay is available on Academia, and includes this abstract: “This essay argues that the exhortations and admonitions voiced in 1 Timothy, a highly rhetorical pseudonymous letter written in Paul’s name, that widows (i.e. unmarried) women attests to a concern with single women’s patronage of Christ assemblies, which the writing seeks to address by having them marry. The argument seeks to move beyond a common explanation that the epistle was occasioned by ascetical teachings in which women discovered in sexual continence freedom from traditional gender roles. It seeks to furnish a broader economic concern with widows through an historical exploration of the socio-economic status of women who were artisans in the imperial urban economy. It identifies the means by which women gained skill in trades, the roles they played in the ‘adaptive family’ in which tradespeople plied their trade often at economic levels of subsistence. New Testament texts point to artisan women, some of them probably widows, who played important roles of patronage and leadership in assemblies of Christ believers. By attending to levels of poverty in the urban empire, traditional views of the widows of 1 Timothy as wealthier women assigned to gender roles are seen in a new light through consideration of spouses accustomed to working alongside their husbands taking on businesses after they died. While the lives of these women are largely invisible, attention to benefactions of wealthy women to synagogues and associations gives insight into the lives of women acting independently in various kinds of social gatherings.”

Krauter, “Die Kirche—Pfeiler und Fundament der Wahrheit?”

April 4, 2022 / Chuck Bumgardner

A recent article on 1 Tim 3:15:

Stefan Krauter, “Die Kirche—Pfeiler und Fundament der Wahrheit? Zur Übersetzung und Auslegung von I Tim 3,15f.” Theologische Zeitschrift 77.1 (2021): 45–59.

The article is in German, but an English-language abstract is provided: “I Tim 3:14–16 is considered the theological centre of the Pastoral Epistles. The text combines the Pauline image of the church as a temple with the image of the church as house of God, which is characteristic of the Pastoral Epistles. In this way, the church is portrayed as a firm institution that passes on the truth unadulterated. The paper questions this interpretation in three steps: lt examines whether there is [a] temple metaphor in the background of l Tim 3:15. The idea that an institution carries the truth of faith is examined. An alternative translation and interpretation of the passage is proposed.”

The article is available here.