Reading the Pastoral Epistles from a Canonical Perspective in Light of the New Perspective on Paul
General Material Designation
[Thesis]
First Statement of Responsibility
Roberts, Daniel Wayne
Subsequent Statement of Responsibility
Merkle, Benjamin L
.PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION, ETC
Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.
Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary
Date of Publication, Distribution, etc.
2020
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
Specific Material Designation and Extent of Item
297
DISSERTATION (THESIS) NOTE
Dissertation or thesis details and type of degree
Ph.D.
Body granting the degree
Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary
Text preceding or following the note
2020
SUMMARY OR ABSTRACT
Text of Note
The "New Perspective on Paul," as primarily articulated by E. P. Sanders, James D. G. Dunn, and N. T. Wright, has become a provocative way of understanding Judaism as a pattern of religion characterized by "covenantal nomism," which stands in contrast to the traditional, Lutheran position that argues the Judaism against which Paul responded was "legalistic." This "new perspective" of first-century Judaism has remarkably changed the landscape of Pauline studies, but it has done so in isolation from the Pastoral Epistles, which are considered by most critical scholarship to be pseudonymous. Because of the lack of interaction with the Pastoral Epistles by the New Perspective on Paul, this study seeks to test the hermeneutic of the New Perspective on Paul from a canonical perspective, as defined by Brevard Childs, in order to bypass some of the contentious issues of Pauline authorship. The specific passages within the Pastoral Epistles studied in this dissertation were chosen via four tenets of the New Perspective on Paul: Justification and Salvation, Law and Works, Paul's View of Judaism, and his Opponents. Based on these tenets, the passages studied are 1 Tim 1:6-16, 2:3-7, 2 Tim 1:3, 8-12, and Titus 3:3-7. In consideration of these passages, this dissertation will consider to what degree the New Perspective on Paul's hermeneutic can find resonance outside "undisputed" Paul. This study is not an attempt to validate or invalidate the New Perspective on Paul, but to test the New Perspective on Paul's hermeneutic within the Pastoral Epistles.