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  • From: Christopher Hutson <crhutson AT salisbury.net>
  • To: "Corpus-paul" <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Pauline authorship of the Pastorals - additional comments
  • Date: Sat, 1 May 1999 10:07:59 EDT



Jim Oxford wrote:

>...it seems to me, an axiom in NT scholarship
>concerning the dating and authorship of the pastoral epistles, one
which
>for years now I have grown to question. Here are two main questions
I
>have:
>
>Is there enough extant evidence at our disposal to begin to describe
>accurately the nature of "church structure" during the years 33-90
CE? If
>there is not, is it not an assumption, then, rather than a "given,"
that
>the Pastoral Epistles should be dated late, certainly later than
Paul's
>lifetime?


As I've said before, I'm not so sure that "Church Structure" is the
heart of the matter in the PE and is thus not the best place to begin
in thinking about a date for these letters. But I would agree with
Perry that:

>First, Clement of Rome (written between 90-100) seems to envision the
same
>kind of church structure as the PE.
>
>Thus it is unnecessary (and possibly somewhat anachronistic) to read
the PE
>as if they reflect the fully developed authoritative hierarchy of
Irenaeus.
>The church structure of the PE need not be placed any later than 90
at the
>latest.

Thanks, Perry. I think a date before 90 for the PE is plausible. If
you want to focus on church structure, then the PE do not reflect the
rigid structure already seen in Ignatius. The PE do not, for example,
make a clear distinction between presbyters and episkopoi.


Jim also wrote:

>To what extent should Jewish "synagogue structure" (or any other
first
>century community's "religious structuring," such as Qumran or even
>Greco-Roman communities), be used in discussing this issue? Can we
make
>inferences about church structures in early Christian communities
based on
>what we find in other religious communities, such as Qumran, for
example?


On this question, as Christianity moves outward into gentile cultures,
we might also look to models of community organization that are
non-Jewish, as for example, Epicurean communities.

Regards,

XPIC

------------------------------------
Christopher R. Hutson
Hood Theological Seminary
Salisbury, NC 28144
crhutson AT salisbury.net
------------------------------------




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