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corpus-paul - Re: Pauline authorship of the Pastorals - additional comments

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  • From: "David C. Hindley" <DHindley AT compuserve.com>
  • To: corpus-paul
  • Subject: Re: Pauline authorship of the Pastorals - additional comments
  • Date: Sun, 2 May 1999 12:22:19


On 05/02/99, "Jack Kilmon <jkilmon AT historian.net>" wrote in response to
"Perry L. Stepp":

> > [...] 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.
>
> Yes, this could be true but Paul died in 64 CE at a time
> when these structures were still in formation. Additionally,
> Paul had been under arrest and imprisoned in Caesarea around
> mid 57 and sent to Rome in 60 CE. In 1 Timothy "Paul" speaks
> of himself as free and traveling. The situation in 1 Tim cannot
> fit into any of the time periods in Acts and Acts ends in 64.
>
> Jack

Is it necessary to assume that the church structures were formed as a
result of the activity of Paul (or his immediate contemporaries)? This
really boils down to the question of who Paul was evangelizing. I think it
is safe to take as a given that they are some sort of Gentile associates to
Judiasm (i.e., "God-fearers" as we often call them today), but could they
have already been organized in some fashion?

Judiasm had its apostles who appear to have collected the temple tax from
Jews of the diaspora, and possibly communicated other relevant info to
them. The synagogues of the diaspora likely had organized leadership
(probably with variations in practice due to the inclinations of sponsoring
parties, much like today), but must we assume that Gentile associates were
-only- operating in conjunction with a Jewish synagogue?

Could they not have had a life, and organization, separate from them as
well, perhaps one that mimicked the organization of the synagogue and the
financial apostles from the temple authorities? They had offerings to make
to the temple just the same as Jews. Those Jews who did not approve of the
temple accepting offerings from Gentiles may have made it impossible for
the Jewish financial apostles to receive offerings from both Jews and
Gentiles (unless each faction withing Judiasm and the Gentile associate
movements had their own "apostles").

Thus, the Gentiles whom Paul evangelized could well have a pre-existing
organization which Paul utilizes. Then, too, it would not be surprising to
see Gentile associates occasionally deviate from these models to create
organizational characteristics that fit Gentile modes of thought about
organization, giving their leaders and functionaries Greek titles, etc.

Dave Hindley, BA
Cleveland, OH, USA
Dhindley AT compuserve.com




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