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  • From: Jeff Peterson <peterson AT mail.austingrad.edu>
  • To: Corpus-Paul <corpus-paul AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Corpus-Paul] Re: Ecclesiology
  • Date: Thu, 10 Apr 2003 10:42:41 -0500

At 7:08 PM -0500 4/9/03, MillerJimE AT aol.com wrote:
But even if we treat the Pastorals as pseudepigraphs, I still think that
Phoebe held a specific church office, however undeveloped it may have been at
the time. I would include Phoebe the deacon with the other examples listed
above.

The question is complicated because Paul uses DIAKONOS generally of persons who serve for the people of God, including the earthly Jesus (Rom 15:8), Paul himself and his associates (2 Cor 6:4), and other missionaries as well (1 Cor 3:5; 2 Cor 11:23). In light of this, one may wonder whether the reference in Phil 1:1 is to two clearly defined offices or to those entrusted with oversight (corresponding to the functionaries in 1 Thess 5:12-13; 1 Cor 16:15-16) and those who assist them -- likely members of their households, given the reference to Stephanas' household in 1 Cor 16:15 and the naming of individuals before the church "in your [Philemon's] house" in Phile 1.

Phoebe is presented as a DIAKONOS, a "servant," of the church in Cenchreae, but it's unclear whether this describes her as holding a recognized office subordinate to one or more EPISKOPOI. The further description of her as "patron" (PROSTATIS) of many including Paul might suggest the more general meaning and put Pheobe in the role of householders like Philemon and Stephanas who devote their resources to the mission.

The remaining question is how the church structure advocated in 1 Tim relates to what we find in the undisputed letters: Does it reflect formalization of the ministry a generation or two after Paul, or merely an attempt to tighten up the structure evident in the undisputed letters in arguably the most important church of the Pauline mission so as to limit the spread of teaching Paul opposes? On this question I confess myself firmly undecided, leaning on MWF to Pauline authorship and on TThSat to deutero-Pauline; I take Sundays off.

Jeff Peterson
--
Jeffrey Peterson
Associate Professor of New Testament
Austin Graduate School of Theology
Austin, Texas, USA
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Subject: [Corpus-Paul] RE: When Women Were Priests
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<< Im sorry that I dont remember the name of the author, but theres an
excellent book titled "When Women Were Priests". (and then some subtitle).
Very nice treatment of the phoebe= deaconess thing.
Best
Jim >>

Karen Jo Toriesen, "When Women Were Priests" HarperSanFrancisco 1995

Richard H. Anderson






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