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The Apocryphal Epistle to the Laodiceans
An Epistolary and Rhetorical Analysis
Series: - Texts and Editions for New Testament Study, Volume: 7
Author:
Challenging nearly two centuries of scholarship, this book offers the first close analysis of the apocryphal epistle to the Laodiceans. A near consensus in scholarship has emerged in which Laodiceans is dismissed as a random collection of phrases plucked from the undisputed Pauline letters, which lacks any organizational structure or theological sophistication. In The Apocryphal Epistle to the Laodiceans, Philip Tite offers a detailed analysis of this Latin letter by exploring the epistolary conventions utilized by the letter writer. What emerges is a pseudonymous text that is a carefully crafted paraenetic letter with a discernible rhetorical situation. By highlighting Laodiceans’ use of Paul as a literary culture hero, Tite situates the letter within second-century Christian identity formation.
Philip L. Tite, Ph.D. (2005) McGill University, is Affiliate Lecturer at the University of Washington. He is the author of several books, including
Valentinian Ethics and Paraenetic Discourse (Brill, 2009) and is co-editor of the
Bulletin for the Study of Religion. His research focuses on the social and rhetorical aspects of early Christianity.
'Overall, Tite has done an admirable job of demonstrating how sustained epistolary analysis of a neglected writing can yield new insights and venues for research with regard to the connections of the later Pauline tradition to its founding documents as well as the circumstances that engendered the continuing production of Pauline materials.'
Christopher R. Matthews, Boston College School of Theology and Ministry, RBL 07,
' The bibliography is impressively extensive. [...] this monograph is ... a starting point for his guide to existing research on the text.'
Simon Gathercole, Journal of Ecclesiastical History Volume 65 No. 2 (2014)
' Overall, this book helpfully fills a gap in previous scholarship. It takes a generous approach to evaluating the significance of the epistle. [...] this treatment will ensure that more recognition is given to this largely overlooked composition.'
Paul Foster, The Expository Times 124(10), 2013
Christopher R. Matthews, Boston College School of Theology and Ministry, RBL 07,
' The bibliography is impressively extensive. [...] this monograph is ... a starting point for his guide to existing research on the text.'
Simon Gathercole, Journal of Ecclesiastical History Volume 65 No. 2 (2014)
' Overall, this book helpfully fills a gap in previous scholarship. It takes a generous approach to evaluating the significance of the epistle. [...] this treatment will ensure that more recognition is given to this largely overlooked composition.'
Paul Foster, The Expository Times 124(10), 2013
1. Introduction
2. Epistolary Analysis I: The Prescript
3. Epistolary Analysis II: The Thanksgiving Period
4. Epistolary Analysis III: The Letter Body
5. Epistolary Analysis IV: The Paraenesis
6. Epistolary Analysis V: The Letter Closing
7. A Theological Synthesis of Laodiceans
8. Concluding Comments
Appendix 1: Text, Translation, and Epistolary Arrangement of Laodiceans
Appendix II: Dating the Apocryphal Epistle to the Laodiceans
Bibliography
2. Epistolary Analysis I: The Prescript
3. Epistolary Analysis II: The Thanksgiving Period
4. Epistolary Analysis III: The Letter Body
5. Epistolary Analysis IV: The Paraenesis
6. Epistolary Analysis V: The Letter Closing
7. A Theological Synthesis of Laodiceans
8. Concluding Comments
Appendix 1: Text, Translation, and Epistolary Arrangement of Laodiceans
Appendix II: Dating the Apocryphal Epistle to the Laodiceans
Bibliography
Scholars in New Testament studies, Patristic traditions, ancient epistolography and especially those studying Pauline pseudonymity as well as historians of early Christianity interested in the appropriation of Paul in the second century.