In order to follow the argument of 1 Tim, one must be familiar not only with Greco-Roman culture but also with traditional Jewish interpretations of Torah. This study (a) discusses Jewish overtones in the context, (b) argues that 2:15 appropriates early rabbinic traditions about why women die in childbirth to underscore the importance of feminine virtues, and (c) responds to possible objections.1
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Trans. Herbert Danby, The Mishnah (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1933) 102.
Ceslas Spicq, Les Épîtres pastorales (4th ed.; Paris: Lecoffre, 1969) 1:382, 399; Oberlinner, Timotheusbrief, 102-103.
E.g., C.K. Barrett, The Pastoral Epistles (Oxford: Clarendon, 1963) 56-57; Craig S. Keener, Paul, Women & Wives: Marriage and Women’s Ministry in the Letters of Paul (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1992) 118-120.
Risto Saarinen, The Pastoral Epistles with Philemon & Jude (Grand Rapids: Brazos, 2008) 58; cf. L.T. Johnson, The First and Second Letters to Timothy (ab 35A; New York: Doubleday, 2001) 208.
Bruce W. Winter, Roman Wives, Roman Widows: The Appearance of the New Woman and the Pauline Communities (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003) 97-122; Jennifer A. Glancy, “Protocols of Masculinity in the Pastoral Epistles,” in New Testament Masculinities (Atlanta: sbl, 2003) 238.
E.g., M. Goulder, “The Pastor’s Wolves: Jewish Christian Visionaries behind the Pastoral Epistles,” NovT 38.3 (1996) 242-256; Jerry L. Sumney, “Servants of Satan”, “False Brothers” and Other Opponents of Paul (JSNTSup 188; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic, 1999) 253-302.
E.g., 1 Clem. 60.3-61.1; Tertullian, Apol. 39.2; Origen, Cels. 8.73.
Judith R. Baskin, Midrashic Women: Formations of the Feminine in Rabbinic Literature (Hanover: Brandeis University Press, 2002) 44-64.
A.T. Hanson, “Eve’s Transgression: 1 Timothy 2.13-15,” in Studies in the Pastoral Epistles (London: spck, 1968) 65-77, quotation from p. 65; H.St.J. Thackeray, The Relation of St. Paul to Contemporary Jewish Thought(London: Macmillan, 1900) 50-57; Weber, Jüdische Theologie auf Grund des Talmud und verwandter Schriften (Leipzig, 1897).
Pliny the Younger, Ep. 4.21; and epitaphs collected in Mary R. Lefkowitz & Maureen B. Fant, Women’s Life in Greece & Rome: A Sourcebook in Translation (2nd ed.; Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992) ##50, 363, 365, 366.
See Tal Ilan, Integrating Women into Second-Temple History (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1999) 212; and idem, Jewish Women in Greco-Roman Palestine (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1996) 117-119; who draws from N. Haas, “Anthropological Observations on the Skeletal Remains from Giv’at ha-Mivtar,” iej 20 (1970) 38-59; J. Naveh, “An Aramaic Tomb Inscription Written in Paleo-Hebrew Script,” iej 23 (1973) 82-91; and CII 874 (from Byblos); CII 1481, 1515, 1530 (from Egypt).
Rochelle L. Millen, “Birkhat Ha-Gomel: A Study in Cultural Context and Halakhic Practice,” Judaism 43.3 (1994) 270-278.
Ross Shepard Kraemer, Her Share of the Blessings: Women’s Religions among Pagans, Jews, and Christians in the Greco-Roman World (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992) 99-105; cf. Baskin, Midrashic Women, 72.
Jacob Neusner, The Talmud of the Land of Israel: A Preliminary Translation and Explanation, Vol. 11: Shabbat (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991) 113-114, modified.
Jacob Neusner, The Tosefta: Translated from the Hebrew with a New Introduction (2 vols.; Peabody: Hendrickson, 2002) 1:363, modified.
Jacob Neusner, The Babylonian Talmud: Translation and Commentary (Peabody: Hendrickson, 2006), modified.
Bassler, “Adam, Eve, and the Pastor,” 51. Cf. Stanley E. Porter, “What Does It Mean to be ‘Saved by Childbirth’ (1 Timothy 2.15)?” jsnt 49 (1993) 101-102.
Jerome D. Quinn & W.C. Wacker, The First and Second Letters to Timothy (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000) 230.
J.M. Holmes, Texts in a Whirlwind: A Critique of Four Exegetical Devices at 1 Timothy 2.9-15 (JSNTSup 196; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic, 2000) 241-299.
Porter, “What Does It Mean?” 93-94; George M. Wieland, The Significance of Salvation: A Study of Salvation Language in the Pastoral Epistles (Milton Keynes: Paternoster, 2006) 79.
Xenophon, Anab. 5.5.8, trans. C.L. Brownson (lcl; Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1922), modified.
E.g., Lock, Pastoral Epistles, 32-33; Knight, Commentary, 215; Witherington, Socio-Rhetorical Commentary, 229-230.
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In order to follow the argument of 1 Tim, one must be familiar not only with Greco-Roman culture but also with traditional Jewish interpretations of Torah. This study (a) discusses Jewish overtones in the context, (b) argues that 2:15 appropriates early rabbinic traditions about why women die in childbirth to underscore the importance of feminine virtues, and (c) responds to possible objections.1
All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
---|---|---|---|
Abstract Views | 445 | 77 | 9 |
Full Text Views | 280 | 9 | 0 |
PDF Views & Downloads | 160 | 19 | 1 |