The Pastoral Epistles

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Dibelius ◽  
Hans Conzelmann
Keyword(s):  
Author(s):  
Alicia D. Myers

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.


2011 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-96
Author(s):  
Abraham J. Malherbe

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.


Augustinus ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-100
Author(s):  
Marianne Djuth ◽  

In this essay I explore the implications of Augustine’s notion of moral conscience in the polemical treatises written during the late 300’s and the early 400’s. During this period Augustine found himself locked in controversy with both the Manichaeans and the Donatists over the fundamental truths of the Christian faith. Against this background I examine Augustine’s understanding of conscience with reference to Faustus of Milevis and Petilian of Constantine. With respect to Faustus of Milevis, I situate Augustine’s understanding of conscience in the context of his adaptation of the notion of conscience found in Paul’s Pastoral Epistles to his repudiation of the Manichaeans in three key passages: 1Tim. 1:5, 1Tim. 4:1-3, and Tit. 1:15. In the case of Petilian of Constantine I investigate the meaning of conscience in relation to three major themes found in Petilian’s letters: the subjective disposition of conscience, the hiddenness of conscience, and the responsibility for the subjective disposition of conscience. Finally, I conclude the essay by reflecting more generally on the meaning and use of the notion of conscience in polemical disputes. Not only does Augustine develop a notion of conscience that addresses personal and ecclesial concerns, but he also characterizes conscience as both stable and malleable.


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