Corpus-Paul

[yonder moynihan gillihan <ymgillih AT midway.uchicago.edu>]

Regarding other pseuepigraphic epistles and personal information therein:

Throughout the Cynic epistles we find well-known stories from the lives of
the cynics related as though told by Diogenes, Crates, etc., themselves.
Not only do we find general descriptions of activity--itinerancy, begging,
learning lessons--but also specific details such as those found in
"biographies" and chreia.  When read alongside the following letters (from
A. Malherbe's _The Cynic Epistles_ Montana, 1977), the "personal details"
in 2 Tim seem possibly reconstructed from popularly-circulated stories
about Paul, or from common knowledge about his friendships and concerns,
or general character and the stresses of his mission and call:

Crates 30 (to my wife)
I am returning the tunic that you wove and sent to me because those of us
who live a life of perseverance are forbidden to wear such things, and I
do so in order that I may cause you to desist from this task which you
have undertaken with much zeal so that you might appear to be someone who
loves her husband. . . .
        This letter repeats commonly-known aspects of his character and a
famous story about his relationship with his wife, but sets it within the
context of a supposedly intimate discourse.  The "privacy" of the
correspondence lends an intimacy and earnest genuineness to a story
already told often, and makes the exhortation that follows all the more
personal and convicting.  I would be willing to speculate that the
"privacy" of the personal notes in 2 Tim 1.3-6, 15-16, etc. have the same
effect.  Compare, too, Crates "private" letter to Hipparchia: its
poignant, personal urgency makes the universality of its message gripping:

Crates 1
Return quickly.  You can still find Diogenes alive (for he is already near
the end of life; yesterday, at any rate, he all but expired) in order to
greet him for the last time and to learn how much philosophy can do even
in the mose terrifying circumstances.  

Also see Diogenes 9, a letter to Crates supposedly written upon receiving
news of Crates' famous public liberation of himself.  Diogenes 37 contains
supposedly incidental details about a trip from Ephesus to Rhodes, and
mentions specific hosts and good hospitality; Diogenes 7, a letter to his
father Hicetas, combines "personal" concern--"Do not be upset, Father"--
with details about his "sufferings"--"that I am called a dog and put on a
double, coarse cloak, carry a wallet over my shoulder . . . "--along with
general principles regarding the Cynic life--"You should be glad that you
son is satisfied with little, wile being free from popular opinion, to
which all, Greeks and barbarians alike, are subservient"--and claims to
truth--"Now the name (Cynic) . . . is a sign that is notable as it is.
For I am called heaven's dog, not earth's, since I liken myself to it,
living as I do, not in conformity with popular opinion but according to
nature, free under Zeus, and crediting the good to him and not to my
neighbor."

While obvious differences remain, and it might be claimed that the
"personal details" of Paul's letters seem more genuine than those of the
Cynics', I think these letters provide useful analogies for understanding
what might have happened, how some of "Paul's" letters came to be written.
The literary conventions of contriving occasional contexts, manufacturing
versimilitude with incidental details, and reproducing commonly-known,
poignant descriptions of the relationships, experiences, and character of
a famous figure were readily available--and I would guess that these
conventions were learned in school as students studied rhetorical style.
Seems pretty easy to me to imagine this as a background to 2 Tim.

Yonder Gillihan
grad student 
The Department of New Testament and Early Christian Lit.
The University of Chicago