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  • From: "Edgar M. Krentz" <ekrentz AT earthlink.net>
  • To: "Corpus-paul" <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Onesimus and Onesiphorus
  • Date: Fri, 6 Sep 2002 09:26:01 -0500


Edgar,

Although I believe your reply was directed to Kym, I would like to answer
on my own behalf. I believe I am aware of all of the arguments for and
against the status of the Paulines (although of course I haven't read
everything there is to say on the matter). My understanding is that the
prevailing opinion regarding these 3 letters is not as cut-and-dried as
you suggest, and is actually as follows:

Philemon: Most likely by Paul
Colossians: Probably not by Paul
2 Timothy: Almost certainly not by Paul

I would agree with the above evaluation, only say that Philemon is almost certainly by Paul.

My own opinion is that none of the evidence I have seen makes a strong
enough case to overturn the presupposition that these letters are genuine,
and that all the 'evidence against' is in fact explainable in terms of
Pauline authorship. If I can briefly talk about 2 Tim, I largely follow
the reasoning of Dan Wallace regarding the pastorals in general (see
http://www.bible.org/docs/soapbox/1timotl.htm), although I would make a
stronger case that 2 Tim should not be 'lumped in' with 1 Tim and Titus
when discussing authenticity.

I find it almost impossible to draw the conclusions you do above. The linguistic character of Ephesians, an the pastorals is so different from the rest of Paul's letters. The theological positions are so different from Paul. The problems faced, especially in the pastorals, are so different. It would take too much time to give the details.


In particular I side with Dan on the issue of motive. Once someone had
forged 1 Tim, why would anyone then forge Titus (which mostly covers the
same issues), and even more so, why then forge 2 Tim as well? Also, why
write a letter mentioning so many of Paul's companions (or people he had
met) - 20 if I've counted correctly? Every additional person mentioned
adds to the risk that some reader of 2 Tim would know (of have information
about) that person, increasing the risk that the letter would be exposed
as a forgery. Sorry, but I really can't see it.

First of all, I do not regard the Pastorals as forgeries; that is a highly loaded term with implications of moral turpitude. I hold that they are letters written by later followers of Paul to address a new situation. They are pseudepigrapha, a type of writing that honors the one they name. It is seen on the Psalter of the OT, in early Judaism, in the Greek world, and so is a recognized convention. ["Forge," by the way, is not a verb meaning to compose a forgery.]

Why Titus after 1 Timothy? Because, as the letters themselves indicate, they are addressed to different geographic areas. You cannot suppose that a document written to the area of Ephesus is also known very quickly in Crete.

One of the things that disturbs me at the moment about Corpus Paulinum is the dominance of people writing in who are more concerned with maintaining very conservative positions in historical reconstruction than in discussing issues in pauline theology, e.g. what is the background for the change in the use of SOMA CHRISTOU that one finds in Colossians and Ephesians when compared to 1 Corinthians and Romans. Or, what is the influence of Epicureanism or Stoicism on Paul's thought in 1 Thessalonians.

Dave Inglis
david AT colonialcommerce.com
3538 O'Connor Drive
Lafayette, CA, USA

What disturbs me, I guess, is that the discussion seems to have become so very conservative that main line scholars no longer seem attracted to the site, as they were when it first began. And that disappoints.

But thanks for taking the time to respond
--
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Edgar Krentz Professor Emeritus of New Testament Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago
1100 East 55th Street
Chicago, IL 60615
Telephone: (773) 256-0773 Home Tel: 773-947-8105
Office e-mail: ekrentz AT lstc.edu Home e-mail: ekrentz AT earthlink.net
GHRASKW D' AEI POLLA DIDASKOMENOS.
"I grow older, learning many things all the time." [Solon of Athens]
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