Journal: Tyndale Bulletin
Volume: TYNBUL 69:1 (NA 2018)
Article: Pauline Language And The Pastoral Epistles
Author: Jermo van Nes

TynBull 69:1 (2018) p. 153

Pauline Language And The Pastoral Epistles1

Jermo van Nes

([email protected])

After a short introduction explaining the highly disputed status of the Pastoral Epistles (PE or Pastorals) in New Testament studies, Part I (‘The Linguistic Problem of the Pastoral Epistles’) serves as a history of research on the so-called linguistic problem of the PE. Tracing its roots, Chapter 1 (‘Origins of the Problem: Founding Figures’) discusses some of the key figures in the emerging debate over the peculiar language of the PE in relation to the question of their authorship. Evanson in 1792 was probably the first to challenge the authenticity of Titus on the partial basis of its distinctive language. Schleiermacher in 1804 did the same with 1 Timothy, mainly for linguistic reasons, noticing especially a large number of unique words and twisted phrases. Eichhorn extended Schleiermacher’s critical agenda in 1812, being the first to question the authenticity of all three Pastorals for their unusual language. One of the most comprehensive critiques on the authenticity of the PE came from Holtzmann in 1880. He developed a case for the literary homogeneity of the Pastorals and the impossibility of dating them within the lifetime of Paul. The final major contribution was made by Harrison in 1921, who marshalled the argument that the language of the Pastorals is predominantly un-Pauline. All of these founding figures in the history of authenticity criticism on the PE, however, encountered serious opposition from scholars who challenged the idea that the language of the Pastorals is atypical for Paul.

TynBull 69:1 (2018) p. 154

Chapter 2 (‘Constituents of the Problem: Linguistic Peculiarities’) discusses all the major lexical and syntactic peculiarities that since the works of Schleiermacher, Holtzmann, and Harrison have constituted the quantitative part of the PE’s linguistic problem. In terms of vocabulary, scholars usually point to five major idiosyncrasies: (1) hapax legomena, (2) lexical richness, (3) missing indeclinables, (4) compound words, and (5) semantic deviations, including Grecisms and un-Paulinisms. Hapax legomena, lexical richness, and missing indeclinables seem to be the most important lexical anomalies for exegetes. In terms of syntax, scholars usually point to four major peculiarities: (1) interclausal relations, (2) structural irregularities in terms of anacolutha, parentheses, and ellipses, (3) miscellaneous uses of ὡς, articles, and prepositions, and (4) stylometric data based on univariate and multivariate statistics. Interclausal relations and structural irregularities seem to be the most noteworthy syntactic peculiarities. To what extent these lexical...