Tag: 2 Timothy (Page 1 of 4)

Majtán, La crescita nella responsabilità di Timoteo

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.

Krauter, “Ein Geist der Besonnenheit?”

Stefan Krauter has produced a new lexical study that will be of interest to students of the Pastorals:

Stefan Krauter, “Ein Geist der Besonnenheit? Σωφρονισμός in 2Tim 1,7.” Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft 114.1 (2023): 123–36. https://doi.org/10.1515/znw-2023-0007

Abstract: “Almost all current translations of 2Tim 1:7 understand σωφρονισμός in this verse as a synonym of σωφροσύνη. So do authoritative recent commentaries and dictionaries. This paper demonstrates that word formation makes this unlikely and that σωφρονισμός is never used synonymously with σωφροσύνη in ancientGreek literature. It is shown that the usual meaning of “making someone σώφρων” is possible and appropriate for 2Tim 1:7. A survey of ancient translations and interpretations of the verse by ancient Christian writers shows that most of them also consider this meaning possible and obvious.”

Kohl festschrift articles

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

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

Percival, “The Plan of Salvation in the Letters to Timothy and Titus”

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.

Church, “Separation from the Evil World”

An excursion into the theology of Darby which may be of interest to students of 2 Timothy:

Phillip Church, “Separation from the (Evil) World: 2 Timothy 2.19-21 and the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church.” The Bible Translator 73.2 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1177/20516770221097930

Abstract: Separation from the (evil) world based on 2 Tim 2.19-21 is a defining characteristic of exclusive brethrenism, both in its most extreme form, the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church, and in other exclusive brethren groups. I examine this text in its context and then critically assess John Nelson Darby’s reading of it, working from his translation and his comments elsewhere in his writings. Darby misread the text as separation from “evil people” rather than avoidance of wrongdoing, with disastrous consequences. I conclude with some reflections on how his reading of v. 19 arose and on the dangers associated with translation work undertaken by influential individuals working in isolation from other scholars.

The Pastorals in WUNT

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).

Quesnel, “Identifier les parties pauliniennes de la 2ème lettre à Timothee”

A new article on 2 Timothy has been published in Revue Biblique:

Michel Quesnel, “Identifier les parties pauliniennes de la 2ème lettre à Timothee,” Revue Biblique 129.2 (2022): 199–212.

The article is in French, but an English-language abstract is provided: “While the 1st letter to Timothy and the letter to Titus are pseudepigrapha, the 2nd epistle to Timothy is not entirely so. A precise analysis of the vocabulary used and the relationship of the authors to time enables us to distinguish parts of which Paul is certainly the author (2 Tm 1:1–2:13 and 4:6–22) from an addition composed by an editor at the end of the 1st century, giving instructions regarding behaviour to leaders of local churches (2 Tm 2:14–3:9). With less certainty we must probably also attribute to Paul 2 Tm 3:10–4:5.”

Annual Bibliographies on the Pastorals

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.

Bulundwe, “Un évangile subversif”

Students of the Pastorals will be interested in a recent essay by Luc Bulundwe:

Luc Bulundwe, “Un évangile subversif: 2 Timothée au prisme d’une analyse sociologique du récit de soi [A subversive gospel: 2 Timothy through a sociological analysis of the self-narrative].” Pages 211–46 in Approches et méthodes en sciences bibliques. Quoi de neuf? Edited by Luc Bulundwe and Chen Dandelot, in collaboration with Simon Butticaz. Cahiers de la Revue de théologie et de philosophie 25. Genève: Droz, 2021.

The article is in French, but Bulundwe has provided me with a summary in English: “This paper applies a sociological analysis of the literary and rhetorical mechanisms of 2 Tim 1. This analysis highlights 2 Tim author’s intent. In a situation where the temptation is to be ashamed of the Gospel, mainly because of Paul’s suffering and imprisonment, the epistle shows, on the contrary, that this is an honor. To convince his addressees, the author uses memories of Christ and Paul as well as witnesses and symbolic places. The sociological analysis thus leads to the same observation as a majority of historical-critical exegeses according to which the author of 2 Tim could be part of the third generation of Christianity. On the other hand, by upsetting the anthropological categories of shame and honor linked to the consequences of the proclamation of the Gospel, it allows us to question the idea that the three pastoral letters are operating a form of inculturation of Christianity.”

Those doing research in authorship of 2 Timothy, sociological analysis, and the question of the connection between the Pastorals and the surrounding culture may find interaction with this essay helpful. Methodologically, the article effects its sociological analysis, first, with a structural analysis, in which Bulundwe engages sequence analysis, actor analysis, and argument analysis, synthesizing the results to highlight the internal logic of the narrative. Second is an examination of opposing pairs within this synthesis (today vs. yesterday/tomorrow; loyalty vs. cowardice; suffering together vs. turning away).

A number of points in Bulundwe’s analysis of the text (which I acknowledge I read in machine translation) were intriguing to me.

(1) In the sequential analysis, where Bulundwe details a number of chronological points able to be observed in the text in 2 Tim 1:1–18 (p. 223), I found it interesting that so many distinct points could be noted. I give them here in the order provided by Bulundwe:
(a) Salvation and call before eternal times (v. 9)
(b) The manifestation of Christ (v. 10)
(c) The service of the ancestors (v. 3)
(d) The faith of Lois and Eunice (v. 5)
(e) Paul’s establishment as “herald, apostle, and teacher” (v. 11)
(f) Paul’s suffering in prison, the abandonment of some, and the faithfulness of another (vv. 15–17)
(g) The exhortation to Timothy “today”
(h) The prospect of God’s reward on that day (v. 18)

(2) In line with the article title, Bulundwe examines the ancient notion of honor in connection with the passage, and argues that though Paul’s imprisonment and suffering did not accrue to any status of honor so far as the culture was concerned, Timothy was being called to suffer alongside Paul without shame because this involved them in collaboration with God himself and the suffering of Christ. “The ancient code of honor is thus well and truly subverted [le code antique de l’honneur est donc bien subverti]” (p. 229).

(3) As an extension of the last point–and here is my biggest takeaway from the article–Paul’s subversion of the ancient notion of honor evident in the text pushes back against the theory that the Pastorals promote a sort of acculturated Christianity in tune with its times, à la Dibelius’s christliche Bürgerlichkeit (pp. 236–37). 

The author is unable to post the article for public access, but will provide a copy privately upon request, which can be made via email to l.bulundwe@gmail.com.

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