Corpus-Paul

[kraft AT ccat.sas.upenn.edu (Robert Kraft)]

James Harding wrote, in part, regarding 2 Timothy:
<quote>
There can be no doubt that differences in church organisation,
theology and language exist within the Pauline corpus. However,
basing arguments aginst Pauline authorship of a particular letter on
such issues is problematic. I assume the following: (1) Paul was a
figure who preached and wrote letters with particular audiences in
mind, and it different points in his ministry. This alone means that
arguments which are based on differences in theology are
problematic-Paul was not a systematic theologian, and his
persepectives developed to meet specific situations. (2) Paul would have
had no difficulty in writing in different kinds of Greek to suit a
particular situation: language alone would not be an appropriate
argument in denying 2 Tim (say) to Paul. (3) Paul's use of language
and his preferred metaphors altered as his ministry developed. (4)
Not all churches founded by Paul would have had identical structures,
and the church organization of a particular community could develop
quite quickly. Different church organizations alone are not adequate
to deny (e.g.) 1 Cor and 2 Tim to the same author. In fact, I believe
1 Cor and 2 Tim may be read very well as by the same author.
 (5) Acts is of dubious relevance as a source of
*facts* and is not an appropriate source of evidence for the
authenticity issue.
</quote>

My suggestion would be to take the "3 Corinthians" materials and apply the
same sort of observations. Ask if the same person who wrote 2 Timothy
could have written 3 Corinthians, and why or why not. Then try to move
from those observations to the question whether that person (or those
persons) could have written Romans-Galatians and/or 1-2 Corinthians.

Try the same sort of thing with Laodiceans in relation to Philippians,
etc. These exercises might help sharpen the methodological issues, among
other things. The quest for consistency of judgment would seem to me to be
basic, if perhaps sometimes painful! Ultimately, what you WANT to
believe/conclude will probably win the day. Probabilities are often
ephemeral things.

Bob
-- 
Robert A. Kraft, Religious Studies, University of Pennsylvania
227 Logan Hall (Philadelphia PA 19104-6304); tel. 215 898-5827
kraft AT ccat.sas.upenn.edu
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/rs/rak/kraft.html