Tag: Pastoral Epistles (Page 4 of 17)

Zimmermann and Manomi, “Ready for Every Good Work” (Titus 3:1)

March 15, 2023 / Chuck Bumgardner

A 2019 specialist conference on “Ethics in Titus” was held in Mainz (presentations and abstracts), We posted earlier about the forthcoming publication of its proceedings, which were made available from Mohr Siebeck in late 2022:

Ruben Zimmermann and Dogara Ishaya Manomi, eds. “Ready for Every Good Work” (Titus 3:1): Implicit Ethics in the Letter to Titus. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 484. Kontexte und Normen neutestamentlicher Ethik/ Contexts and Norms of New Testament Ethics 13. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2022.

The conference and collection of essays represents a veritable “who’s who” in Pastorals scholarship; I know of nothing comparable in recent years. More detailed information about the volume is available at Mohr Siebeck, and we have provided the contents of the volume below.

Bauer, “Befähigung und Einsetzung, Tugendlehre und Standesethos”

March 13, 2023 / Chuck Bumgardner

A new article on church offices in the Pastorals against their Greco-Roman background:

Thomas Johann Bauer, “Befähigung und Einsetzung, Tugendlehre und Standesethos: Die Ämterspiegel der Pastoralbriefe und der religiös-philosophische Diskurs der hellenistisch-römischen Zeit.” Pages 147–68 in Ermutigung zur Verantwortung: Festschrift für Josef Römelt. Edited by Christof Mandry and Stefan Meyer-Ahlen. Studien der Moraltheologie 16. Münster: Aschendorff, 2022.

De Virgilio, “‘In attesa della beata speranza’ (Tt 2,13).”

March 11, 2023 / Chuck Bumgardner

I have not seen a new article by Giuseppe De Virgilio for some time, but noticed this one tonight:

De Virgilio, Giuseppe. “‘In attesa della beata speranza’ (Tt 2,13): L’esercizio della speranza nelle Lettere a Timoteo e Tito [‘Waiting for the blessed hope’ (Tit 2:13): The exercise of hope in the Letters to Timothy and Titus].” Ricerche storico-bibliche 34.1–2 (2022): 319–29.

Abstract: “The exercise of hope is examined in the Letters to Timothy and Titus, as a development of the eschatological theme in the Pauline correspondence. The exercise of hope expressed through the use of elpis (1Tm 1,1; Tt 1,2; 2,13; 3,7) and elpizô (1Tm 3,14; 4,10; 5,5; 6,17) is part of the broader vision that characterizes the development of the Pauline tradition. The vital environment of the Pastoral Letters witnesses a climate of active expectation and hope, characterized by long-distance dialogue between the apostle, his faithful interlocutors and their respective Christian communities. In reviewing the attestations of elpis / elpizô and the use of hypomonê / hyomenô and makrothymia in the pastoral corpus, three peculiar aspects of the theme are focused on: a) hope as a sign of the industriousness of the present time and fidelity in its duration; b) the didactic and ethical emphasis on the exercise of hope; c) the pedagogical connotation of hope for the formation of the pastor between the apousía–parousía of Paul.”

De Virgilio is on the faculty of a Roman Catholic institution in Rome, the Pontificia Università della Santa Croce, and has published a great deal of specialist literature on the Pastorals over the years:

“2 Tm 3,14–17: l’identità delle Scrittura ispirata nella prospettiva teologica delle Lettere Pastorali.” Pages 208‒226 in La Sacra Scrittura anima della teologia: Atti del IV Simposio Internazionale della Facoltà Teologia. Edited by M. Tábet. Vatican City: LEV, 1999.

“Aspetti e profili della solidarietà nelle Lettere Pastorali.” Pages 195–222 in Il deposito della fede: Timoteo e Tito. Edited by Giuseppe De Virgilio. Supplementi alla Rivista Biblica 34. Bologna: Dehoniane, 1998.

“L’attesa del tempo e l’esercizio della speranza nelle Pastorali.” Parole di Vita 57.5 (2012): 16–21.

“La categoria paolina della speranza e il suo uso nelle Lettere Pastorali.” Pages 129‒61 in Speranza umana e speranza escatologica. Edited by R. Altobelli and S. Privitera. Teologia morale 11. Cinisello Balsamo (Milano): San Paolo, 2004.

“Chiesa e ministeri nelle Lettere Pastorali.” Pages 107‒34 in Chiesa e ministeri in Paolo. Edited by Giuseppe De Virgilio. Bologna: Dehoniane, 2003.

“‘Dio vuole che tutti gli uomini siano salvi’ (1Tm 2,4)”. Parola Spirito e Vita 1 (2014): 167–182.

“La figura di Paolo nelle Lettere Pastorali.” Parole di Vita 57.4 (2012): 44–50.

“Helpis-helpízein [ἑλπις-ἑλπιζειν] nel corpus pastorale.” Pages 65‒81 in Planus: Quaderno di studi a cura di Giovanni Giorgio (Istituto Teologico Abruzzese-Molisano). Pescara: Sigraf, 2006.

“L’impiego di pistéuein – pistis nelle Lettere a Timoteo e Tito.” Firmana 21.1 (2012): 71‒84.

“‘In attesa della beata speranza’ (Tt 2,13): L’esercizio della speranza nelle Lettere a Timoteo e Tito.” Ricerche storico-bibliche 34.1–2 (2022): 319–29.

“Ispirazione ed efficacia della scrittura in 2Tm 3,14–17: In occasione del XXV anno della promulgazione della Costituzione Dogmatica Dei Verbum.” Rivista biblica italiana 38 (1990): 485–94.

Lettere a Timoteo, Lettera a Tito. Nuovo Testamento: Commento esegetico e spirituale. Rome: Città nuova, 2017.

“Le Lettere Pastorali: profili etico-morali in dialogo con l’ambiente ellenistico.” Bibbia e oriente 48.4 (2006): 223–48.

“Il ministero del pastore nella Chiesa (1Tm 3‒5).” Parole di Vita 5 (2012): 22‒27.

“Πᾶν κτίσμα θεοῦ καλόν (1Tm 4,4). La positività della creazione e la sua dimensione salvifica nelle Lettere Pastorali.” Pages 361–76 in Creation and Salvation in the Bible. Edited by M. V. Fabbri and M. Tábet. Rome: EDUSC, 2009.

“Ravviva il dono di Dio.” Parole di Vita 5 (2012).

Ravviva il dono di Dio: Una lettura vocazionale di 2Tm 1,1-18. Rome: Rogate, 2018.

“San Paolo ‘Educatore’: Aspetti e motivi pedagogici nell’epistolario paolino.” Rassegna di Teologia 53 (2012): 357–82. (Note “6. L’accentuazione ‘pedagogica’ nelle comunità delle Lettere Pastorali.”)

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

March 10, 2023 / Chuck Bumgardner

A new commentary:

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

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

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

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

Hauck, “Der Kampf gegen die Irrlehre als ‘Krieg’”

March 9, 2023 / Chuck Bumgardner

A new article of interest to students of 1 Timothy:

Marion Hauck. “Der Kampf gegen die Irrlehre als ‘Krieg’: Überlegungen zur Semantik der Verben ἀπωθέομαι and ναυαγέω im Kontext 1 Tim 1.” Novum Testamentum 65.1 (2023): 57–82. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685365-bja10037

Abstract: In 1 Tim 1, particularly in vv. 18–20, the author of the letter uses a cluster of terms that evoke the image of “Timothy” engaged in a military campaign. Along these lines, the verb ἀπωθέοµαι (v. 19) activates the mental picture of a previous struggle or clash through which one party (the τινες) has been disadvantaged. This article seeks to identify the leading metaphors that the author summons in 1 Tim 1, to scrutinize the concepts that he employs for creating these metaphors, and to describe the set of relations that enables a coherent understanding of 1 Tim 1 in general and 1:18–20 in particular. In addition, this article examines how these metaphors are embedded in the wider framework of 1 Tim 1–6 and integrated into the author’s struggle against a false teaching circulating in the Ephesian ekklesia.

The article is available here.

The Pastorals in New Testament Abstracts 66.3

March 8, 2023 / Chuck Bumgardner

The following entries in New Testament Abstracts 66.3 may be of interest to students of the Pastorals.

921. Butticaz, Simon. “De la parenté d’auteur(s) à la ‘mémoire générationelle’ (P. Nora): L’œuvre de Luc et les lettres pastorales en relation.” New Testament Studies 68.3 (2022): 274–93. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0028688522000054

1008. Beale, Greg K. “The Background to ‘Fight the Good Fight’ in 1 Timothy 1:18, 6:12, and 2 Timothy 4:7.” Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft 113.2 (2022): 202–30. https://doi.org/10.1515/znw-2022-0011

1009. Kidson, Lyn M. “Real Widows, Young Widows, and the Limits of Benefaction in 1 Timothy 5:3–16.” Australian Biblical Review 70 (2022): 83–100.

1026. Schmidt, Karl Matthias. “Alter von Schönheit? Anmerkungen zur Datierung des Zweiten Petrusbriefes.” Novum Testamentum 64.4 (2022): 489–510. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685365-bja10026 [engages parallelism between 2 Peter 3:3 and 2 Timothy 3:1]

(p. 432) Porter, Christopher A. “1 Timothy” (pp. 445–60), “2 Timothy” (pp. 461–68), “Titus” (pp. 469–73) in T&T Clark Social Identity Commentary on the New Testament. Edited by J. Brian Tucker and Aaron Kuecker. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 2020.

Krauter, “Ein Geist der Besonnenheit?”

February 19, 2023 / Chuck Bumgardner

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.”

Darko, “Kinship and Leadership in 1 Timothy”

February 4, 2023 / Chuck Bumgardner

A new article of potential interest to students of 1 Timothy:

Daniel K. Darko. “Kinship and Leadership in 1 Timothy: A Study of Filial Framework and Model for Early Christian Communities in Asia Minor.” Religions 14.2 (2023): 1–14, article 169. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14020169

Abstract: “This essay examines the kinship framework and lexemes in the directives for leadership in 1 Timothy, aiming to curb the influence of false teachers and to bolster internal cohesion in the communities. It explores the author’s appeal to household conduct, natural and fictive kinship, and group dynamics couched in filial parlance vis-à-vis the undisputed Pauline letters. The study sheds light on the authorial framework, and suggests that the notion of a departure from ‘love-patriarchalism’ or egalitarian Paul developing later into hierarchical kinship framework in 1 Timothy may be misleading. It becomes apparent that the letter’s kinship lexemes are consistent with what we find in the undisputed letters. Thus, the pseudonymous author, an associate of Paul, does not appeal to or use kinship lexemes any differently from the undisputed letters or elsewhere in Greco-Roman discourse. This does not establish Pauline authorship, but suggest that the notion that the kinship lexemes reflect an elevated hierarchical institutional development in a post-Pauline era, that is uncharacteristic of Paul in the authorship debate, may need to be reconsidered if not revised.”

The article is open access.

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.