Review of Jay Twomey,The Pastoral Epistles Through the Centuries

Augustus’s prioritization of family life to promote his own masculinity resulted in a simultaneous emphasis on motherhood in the Roman world. Not only did motherhood advertise a man’s masculine purposing of his woman/wife, but it was also a legitimate path to increased agency for free(d) women. Situated in this context, New Testament and other early Christian traditions offer varying constructions of “feminine virtue,” some of which prioritize or assume motherhood and others of which downplay or even reject it. This chapter examines these themes in the Pastoral Epistles, New Testament household codes (Col 3:18–4:3; Eph 5:21–6:9; 1 Pet 2:9–3:12), the Acts of Thecla, Acts of Andrew, and the Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas. In their sustained wrestling with and formations of Christian gender(s), these writings present salvation as masculinization for all followers of Christ, but they disagree on whether motherhood should be a part of this process.

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Book Review: Paul, the Pastoral Epistles, and the Early Church

Interpretation A Journal of Bible and Theology ◽

10.1177/002096430906300135 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 63 (1) ◽

pp. 100-101

Author(s):

Raymond F. Collins

Keyword(s):

Early Church ◽

Pastoral Epistles

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Godliness, Self-Sufficiency, Greed, and the Enjoyment of Wealth 1 Timothy 6:3-19 Part II

Novum Testamentum ◽

10.1163/156853610x490228 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 53 (1) ◽

pp. 73-96

Author(s):

Abraham J. Malherbe

Keyword(s):

Financial Support ◽

Pastoral Epistles ◽

Moral Teaching ◽

Moral Ecology ◽

Self Sufficiency ◽

Attitudes Toward Money

AbstractIn 1 Tim 5, the author turns to the church’s financial support of some of its members, and in chap. 6 discusses individual attitudes toward money and its use. The article concentrates on chap. 6, especially vv. 17-19, and argues that, while philosophical sources are of prime importance in describing the moral teaching inculcated, popular morality, represented by clichés, proverbs, gnomai, drama, satire and inscriptions, makes possible a thicker description of the moral ecology of the Pastoral Epistles. What emerges is a variety of sometimes similar teaching relating to wealth. The diversity of viewpoint on the same topics relating to wealth suggests that it is more realistic to see 1 Tim 6:17-19 as one among other viewpoints rather than as derived from one or another of them. What is striking is the prominence given to enjoyment in the proper use of wealth.

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