Corpus-Paul

["Sheila E. McGinn, Ph.D." <smcginn AT jcu.edu>]

George Goolde wrote:

> There is so much speculation as to various hypotheses of the human 
> authorship of the
> Pastoral Epistles.  If thereis indeed as much doubt as their appears to be 
> as to
> their authenticity, I wonder why such doubters would care who wrote them or 
> what
> they said.

"Doubters," as you call us, care who wrote the PE precisely because 
determining
authorship, dating, and provenance are intricately linked to determining 
_what_ the
letters are intended to teach.

> To put this another way, if the contents of the PE are worth believing and 
> acting
> upon <snip>

How are we to know what the CONTENTS ARE if we have not established the 
CONTEXT?
E.g., if the church offices discussed in the PE are being established by Paul 
_de
novo_, the letters tell us something quite different than if they are being 
proposed
(by a follower of Paul two generations later) as an alternative to a 
pre-existing set
of church offices -- which is suggested, e.g., by the drastic reduction of 
widows from
the church payroll and the 100% increase in salary for the presbyters (1 Tim 
5:3-18).

Sheila

--
Sheila E. McGinn, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Biblical Studies & Early Christianity
John Carroll University
Cleveland, Ohio 44118
smcginn AT jcu.edu
www1.jcu.edu/religion/mcginn/mcginn.htm


"It didn't take long to see morality as the quickest way to avoid 
self-loathing."
     Sue Grafton, "L" is for Lawless (New York: Holt, 1995), 205.

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