In Pauline Language and the Pastoral Epistles Jermo van Nes questions the common assumption in New Testament scholarship that language variation is necessarily due to author variation. By using the so-called Pastoral Epistles (PE) as a test-case, Van Nes demonstrates by means of statistical linguistics that only one out of five of their major lexical and syntactic peculiarities differs significantly from other Pauline writings. Most of the PEâs linguistic peculiarities are shown to differ considerably in the Corpus Paulinum, but modern studies in classics and linguistics suggest that factors other than author variation account equally if not better for this variation. Since all of these explanatory factors are compatible with current authorship hypotheses of the PE, Van Nes suggests to no longer use language as a criterion in debates about their authenticity.
Jermo van Nes (Ph.D., 2017) is Senior Researcher at the Evangelical Theological Faculty in Leuven, Belgium. He has published academic articles in leading journals devoted to the study of the New Testament, including New Testament Studies, Novum Testamentum, Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft, and the Journal for the Study of the New Testament.
"It would be difficult to overstate the significance of this contribution to the study of the Pastoral Epistles. Any future work on the language of the Pastoral Epistles or the authorship question will have to reckon with this study. The work is careful and judicious. The presentation is clear and helpfully delineated."
- Ray Van Neste, Union University, JETS 62.2 (June 2019).
"Die gut gegliederte und gut lesbare Studie bereichert und erweitert die bestehende Diskussion."
- Bernhard Mutschler, Ludwigsburg, Theologische Literaturzeitung 144 (2019).
"Van Nes sets a new standard for precision in the study of linguistic variation in the Corpus Paulinum (....) He offers a formidable case against those who deny Pauline authorship of the PE on the basis of language (...)This book is important for all Pauline scholars and essential for scholars of the PE."
- Christopher R. Hutson, Abilene Christian University, The Journal of Theological Studies, NS May 2019.
Contents AcknowledgementsList of TablesList of FiguresList of AbbreviationsIntroduction
Part 1 The Linguistic Problem of the Pastoral Epistles
Part 2 The Linguistic Problem of the Pastoral Epistles Reconsidered
4 Approaching the Problem: Methodological Considerations â4.0 Introduction â4.1 Linguistic Criticism â4.2 Towards a Linguistic Analysis of the Corpus Paulinum â4.2.1âConsistency Model â4.2.2âResemblance Model â4.2.3âPopulation Model â4.2.1âQuantitative Analysis â4.2.2âQualitative Analysis â4.2.1âPost-Pauline Interpolations? â4.2.2âCo-authors and/or Secretaries? â4.3 Conclusion 5 Pauline Vocabulary: New Perspectives â5.0 Introduction â5.1 Hapax Legomena â5.1.1âQuotations â5.1.2âProper Nouns â5.1.3âProductivity â5.1.4âAge â5.2 Lexical Richness â5.2.1âEmotionality â5.2.2âAge â5.2.3âTopicality â5.2.4âTextuality (versus Orality) â5.3 Missing Indeclinables â5.3.1âSubjectivity â5.3.2âEmotionality â5.3.3âTextuality (versus Orality) â5.4 Conclusion 6 Pauline Syntax: New Perspectives â6.0 Introduction â6.1. Interclausal Relations â6.1.1âParataxis â6.1.2âHypotaxis â6.1.1âAge â6.1.2âTextuality (versus Orality) â6.2 Structural Irregularities â6.2.1âParentheses â6.2.2âAnacolutha â6.2.3âEllipses â6.2.1âEmotionality â6.2.2âTextuality (versus Orality) â6.3 Conclusion ConclusionAppendix 1 Hapax Legomena in the Corpus PaulinumAppendix 2 Lexical Richness in the Corpus PaulinumAppendix 3 Missing Indeclinables in the Corpus PaulinumAppendix 4 Interclausal Relations in the Corpus PaulinumAppendix 5 Structural Irregularities in the Corpus PaulinumBibliographyIndex of Modern Authors
All biblical, New Testament, and Pauline scholars, in particular those interested in the letters addressed to Timothy and Titus, the so-called Pastoral Epistles.