A Text centred rhetorical analysis of Paul's Letter to Titus

3. Could pseudonymous letters have been acceptable to the early church?
4. If so, is pseudonymity more plausible than authenticity in the case of the
Pastorals?
He concludes that whereas pseudonymity was not uncommon,
“pseudonymous letters were exceedingly rare” (Köstenberger, 2003:5; See
also Bauckham, 1988:487; Carson, Moo, et al. 1992:371).
According to Köstenberger (2003:7), pseudipigraphy renders all historical data
fictional, but no extant example of the so called “fictive epistolary” genre in the
first or second century exists. This creates the problem of interpreting the
letters, since some parts of it must be discarded, being incidental. Moreover, it
leaves the interpreter with the unpleasant task of having to decipher which of
the didactic portions would be significant. The problem is this: By what criteria
does one make the distinctions? The interpreter is thus faced with this
hermeneutical conundrum.
Brevard Childs (1984:383) argues that the hermeneutical assumptions flowing
from the attribution of pseudipigraphy to the Pastoral Letters have resulted in
“serious exegetical distortions”. In this regard, he highlights three dangers.
1. A pseudipigraphal interpretation objectifies Paul. Since Paul is not regarded
as the author, a shift must occur with respect to the author’s focal position or
view point. The letters are no longer from Paul but about Paul. A historical
critical assumption has thus modified the canonical shaping of the Pastorals.
In essence, this shift reduces the Pastorals to the level of post-apostolic
references to Paul, such as, for example, as can be found in Polycarp. The
canonical distinction in the image of Paul is thus obliterated.
2. The addressees are not who the text prima facie identifies them to be.
Pseudipigraphical interpretation renders them to be mere fictional
representatives of a later office. This has the effect of relinquishing the
canonical portrayal of Timothy and Titus in place of “a hermeneutical theory of
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