Hi Mike,
I know your feelings on this, but I suggest that you look at the critical
literature on this, at least with a view to understanding their arguments,
before you dismiss this out of hand. At least nead a good introductory text
book on the NT first. I don't know what your scientific specialty is, but I
am sure that studying ancient literature is not part of it. You sound like
someone who could be openminded about understanding Scripture, so at least
read about why NT scholars think the way they do.
The conservative, yet critical viewpoint is championed by FF Bruce at
http://www.worldinvisible.com/library/ffbruce/ntdocrli/ntdocont.htm
but you should read scholars such as Raymond Brown and Pheme Perkins.A list
of NT introductory materials can be found at
http://camellia.shc.edu/theology/NewTestament.htm#Intro
Just look at the evidence before deciding
-----Original Message-----
From: asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu [mailto:asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu]On
Behalf Of george murphy
Sent: Tuesday, May 21, 2002 8:12 AM
To: MikeSatterlee@cs.com
Cc: shuanr@boo.net; asa@calvin.edu
Subject: Pauline authorship (was Re: Science, Women, and Paul)
MikeSatterlee@cs.com wrote:
.......................................................
You wrote: [Some suggest] that the Pastoral Epistles were written by a
> "conservative" disciple of St. Paul.
>
> All of the letters which are now widely understood to have been written
by
> Paul are now identified as Paul's work because the text of each one of
those
> letters clearly identifies Paul as its author. If they were not written
by
> Paul, then they contain false information. If they do we, how do we know
what
> in them, if anything, can be trusted?
...........................................................
By the same argument at least part of the Book of Enoch was written
by
the antedeluvian patriarch Enoch because Jude 14-15 ascribes a quotation
from
that book to him. This is, to say the least, highly implausible. Scholars
generally consider the material in this book to be no earlier than ~150 B.C.
Deutero-Pauline writings would contain "false information"
only if their
purpose was to give us information about who actually wrote or dictated
them.
But if the ascription to Paul was intended to say that this material
was faithful
to the teachings of Paul then the situation is different. The
pastoral epistles
suggest that they were composed in & for a situation in the life of the
church
somewhat later than St. Paul. They probably do contain some material from
Paul
himself but it's quite likely that the final composition of these letters
was
later in the first century.
............................................................................
....
Shalom,
George
George L. Murphy
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
"The Science-Theology Interface"
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