Scriptures

• Epistolary literature


  Literature in the form of letters
• Parts of a letter


  • Greeting
  • Prayer
  • Body
  • Closing
  • Benediction
• Paul's letters


  • Occasional
  • Dialogic
  • Ancient epistles
• 1 Thessalonians is a letter from Paul
• Problems the 1 Thessalonian community is facing

  Concerns about the Parousia
• Galatians is a letter from Paul
• Occasion of the Galatians letter


  Jewish Christian "agitators" had visited the Galatian church(es), claiming that converted Gentile Christians had to obey the Mosaic Law, including circumcision
• Structure of the Galatians letter


  • Prayer of thanksgiving not present
  • Conclusion not present
  • Paul's defense of his authority- summary of teaching
• Central teaching in Galatians


  We are justified (put in right relationship) through faith in/of Christ
• 2 Corinthians is a letter from Paul
• Composite nature of 2 Corinthians


  • Chs 1-7, largely conciliary in tone, encouraging
  • Ch 8, concerning the collection for the Jerusalem church
  • Chs 10-13, a scathing and even sarcastic reproach for following the Jewish-Christian "super-apostles"
• Occasion of 2 Corinthians


  • Apparently, some time after 1 Corinthians was written, Paul makes a "painful visit" to Corinth
  • He then writes a "tearful" letter to the Corinthians, instead of visiting them a second time
  • At some point, a group of Jewish-Christian "super-apostles" arrives, challenging Paul's authority
• Romans is a letter from Paul
• Background to the Romans letter


  • Paul has not yet visited Rome, but hopes to make it his base of operations for a trip further West
  • In ca. 49 CE, the Roman emperor Claudius expelled all Jews from Rome
  • This 5-year absence exacerbates the ethnic tensions between Jewish and Gentile Christians in Rome
• Literary strategies used in Romans


  • Diatribe
  • Midrash
• Phoebe's role in Paul's letters

  A deacon and the carrier, and likely reader, of the letter
• The general epistles


  • The catholic epistles (James, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John, Jude) + Hebrews
  • Catholic in the sense they are addressed to the churches at large
• The Epistle of James


  • Not very popular, and canonized very late
  • Not in the Muratorian Fragment (one of the earliest canonical lists
• Structure of the Epistle of James


  • Prayer- none
  • Conclusion- none
  • Benediction- none
• Conflict between Paul and James


  • Martin luther famously disliked the Epistle of James, calling it an "epistle of straw"
  • It lacks many explicitly Christian terms and themes
  • In many ways, it seems thoroughly Jewish
  • The central conflict has to do with salvation by works and salvation by faith
• The Epistle to the Hebrews


  • Contains no greeting or prayer
  • Closest in form to a homily or sermon
  • The text contains no mention of an author
  • Papyrus 46 names Paul as the author
  • Likely not Pauline
  • Canonicity was often in question
• Structure of the Epistle to the Hebrews


  • Exposition and exhortation (macrostructure)
  • Exposition and exhortation (microstructure)
• The Pastoral Epistles


  • 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus
  • In reference to their unique singular addressee
  • They share a similar language, theology, and historical context
  • Some typical pauline phrases, but often extended or changed in non-Pauline ways
  • Less of a theological emphasis on Grace
  • Bespeaks a system of ecclesial organization that is much more common in the late 1st/early 2nd century
• The Revelation


  • The major churches in Asia Minor (audience)
  • Features of apocalyptic literature
  • Told from the perspective of a visitor, usually through the aid of an interpretive figure
  • Progression through history or through the levels of heaven
• Characteristics of apocalyptic writing


  • Dualistic framework
  • Cyclical view of time
  • Densely symbolic language and imagery
• Themes of apocalyptic literature


  • God's sovereignty and the ultimate vindication of the believer
  • Enduring optimism as basis for exhortation
  • Not universal persecution (anymore? yet?)
  • Assume a non-linear temporal framework
• The three cycles of 7 in Revelation are likely meant to refer to the same timeline from 3 perspectives