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

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problem is that such blanket categorisations cannot be substantiated from the texts. Let us consider some concrete examples. Ecclesiology The literature refers to the “structure” of the church in the Pastorals. Truth of the matter is that church structure per se in Titus is very different from that which we find in 1 Timothy. In 2 Timothy, we can hardly speak about “church structure” (Mounce, 2000: lxxxviii). Harding (98:30) refers to Norbert Brox who sees the Pastoral Letters as the product of pseudonymity that sought to present Paul as the model care giver of the churches for successive generations of officials. The problem with this interpretation is the fact that 2 Timothy does not deal with churches per se. In this regard, Fitzmyer (2004:582) summarises the content of these letters in the following manner: “They deal with the structured ministry of the early church and a concern for orthodox teaching”. Such blanket statements obscure the intentions expressed in the three individually and should rather be avoided. Old Testament in the Pastorals Sometimes researchers allow themselves to be overly influenced by a prior supposition. Hanson (1968:112) expresses such an overzealous commitment to the non-Pauline position that he completely misses the wood for the trees. Nowhere is this more evident than in his assumptions about the appearance of the Old Testament in the Pastorals. In this instance, there are at least allusions to the Old Testament in 1 and 2 Timothy, but the same does not hold true for Titus. Background of the Pastorals It is not only scholars, who maintain of anti-Pauline sentiments that make themselves liable to this methodological fallacy. Andreas Köstenberger (2003:8), a staunch defender of Pauline authorship, commits the same error. Thus, when he treats the background of Pastoral Letters to establish cultural relativity, he extensively cites passages from 1 Timothy. Now this may by due to the limitations of space or because the use of the singular source was expedient, but it cannot be maintained that there is such a thing as the background of the Pastorals. Suffering of the apostle/teacher in the Pastorals Harding (1998:141) highlights the sufferings of the apostle together with concomitant calls to suffering and training. We can speak of hardship or the suffering motif in 1 and 2 Timothy, but not in Titus. fulavssw in the Pastorals Harding (1998:148) states that the verb fulavssw appears in the Pastorals five times. The truth of the matter is that it appears in 1 Timothy twice (5:21, 6:20) and in 2 Timothy thrice (1:12, 14; 4:15). It does not feature in Titus at all. So, are the Pastorals referring to the Timothean correspondence with Titus on the side? What do scholars mean when they enumerate characteristics of the Pastorals, when in fact those characteristics are not true of every letter comprising the Pastorals? PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com 25
Lumping or clustering apparent opposition According to Young (1995:276), the opposition constitutes a group of teachers of “gnosis falsely so called”. The problem is that this description is only mentioned in 1 Timothy. Heresy or Heresies? Bailey (1994:335) speaks of the heresy as a single indistinguishable entity identical in all three letters. However, 2 Timothy has very little information on the heresy. In Titus, the description is comparatively vague. This does not leave much room for anything but conjecture. God: Sovereign Creator and Sustainer Another example of the cumulative contrastive reading principle is found in Bailey (1994:341). In a subsection that deals with God’s involvement in his works, the following sentence occurs, clearly illustrative of the assumptions of the author: “Three times in these letters Paul credited God with being the Creator and Sustainer of everything (1 Tim. 4:4; 6:13, 15)”. Notice how the author refers to three letters, when in actuality he only cites three instances from one of the three letters! This is another example of the operation of the cumulative-complimentary reading fallacy by a scholar who supports Pauline authorship of this corpus. The above suffice as examples of the cumulative-complimentary reading principle (fallacy?). Today, there are increasing calls among New Testament scholarship to acknowledge the individuality of the letters. Thus, according to Mounce (2000:cxx), the three are “so significantly different that apart from a few verses on church structure and the opponents, there is little overlap of content”. This recognition of the distinctiveness of the three and exhortations to appreciate the individuality of the three letters are gaining momentum. A detailed critique of “grouping” can be consulted in Johnson’s commentary (1996:8-18). Individualistic-contrastive principle An emerging trend, among scholars in the Pastoral Letters, favours an approach that prioritises the study of each letter apart from and prior to comparison with the rest of the corpus (Van Neste, 2002:120; Johnson, 1996:7, 19, 22). The most vociferous proponent of this approach is Luke Timothy Johnson. In his commentary, he summarises his approach stating that he will pay careful attention to the “literary form of each letter … individually and in particular rather than in general and as a group” (1996:32). A host of scholars have recently made significant contributions to the study of the letter to Titus. These include contributions by Harris (1980), Hagner (1998), Thurston (1999), Kidd (1999), Classen (2002), Van Neste (2002), Van Neste (2003) and Faber (2005). My rhetorical analysis of the Letter to Titus is motivated in part by the recognition that the letter has its own voice and can stand on its own. Like Johnson, I too believe that if scholars evaluated the letters individually first, and then compared them with the rest of the Pauline corpus, the conclusions on pseudonymity would stand on shaky ground (Johnson, 1996:7; Carson and Moo, 2005:555). PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com 26
Page 1 and 2: A TEXT-CENTRED RHETORICAL ANALYSIS
Page 3 and 4: DECLARATION I declare that the diss
Page 5 and 6: SECTION 2 RHETORICAL ANALYSIS 2.1 R
Page 7 and 8: SECTION 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 OVERVIEW
Page 9 and 10: The content of the authorship debat
Page 11 and 12: consistently identified as pioneer
Page 13 and 14: J. Quinn. Their list of scholars ad
Page 15 and 16: Uncharacteristic Pauline theology:
Page 17 and 18: etc. are not referring to actual pe
Page 19 and 20: History never lies” (Titus 1:2)?
Page 21 and 22: meaning as determined by historical
Page 23 and 24: other to explain what these critics
Page 25 and 26: 1.1.2.4 Conclusion The various theo
Page 27: Excursus: Cumulative-complimentary
Page 31 and 32: these letters on a more individual
Page 33 and 34: Furthermore, the name Jesus Christ
Page 35 and 36: C. 1. qeou` and swthvr depend on do
Page 37 and 38: accentuate the unmistakable role of
Page 39 and 40: order to prove issues of authorship
Page 41 and 42: Miller (1997:124) is particularly u
Page 43 and 44: Next, Van Neste goes on to show how
Page 45 and 46: There have been some recent excepti
Page 47 and 48: The first part of the analysis is e
Page 49 and 50: offer any translations in this rega
Page 51 and 52: novel. To the best of my knowledge,
Page 53 and 54: ather than as a supplement to the T
Page 55 and 56: Accordingly, the research hypothesi
Page 57 and 58: •Step 3: Where deemed necessary,
Page 59 and 60: The rhetorical situation correspond
Page 61 and 62: Titus' primary assignment is to app
Page 63 and 64: Throughout the letter, Paul shares
Page 65 and 66: equally negative conduct (1:16). In
Page 67 and 68: 2.2.1.1 Emphasising the legitimacy
Page 69 and 70: strategically throughout this secti
Page 71 and 72: This section is suffused with the r
Page 73 and 74: and trustworthiness. This choice of
Page 75 and 76: “By whose authority are you imple
Page 77 and 78: “shared knowledge”. The qualiti
Page 79 and 80:
espectively within the same sentenc
Page 81 and 82:
dichotomy at the front end of this
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church. Implicit contrasting is als
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aijscrokerdhv", and these false tea
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The second part of verse 13 contain
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different groups. He relentlessly p
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implicit contrasting. The negative
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marker is the use of the plural of
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instruction in this regard. “Heal
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almost desirable. Thus, legitimate
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The subject is the older women. Thi
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negatively upon the oJ lovgo" tou`
Page 103 and 104:
2.2.5.6 The behaviour of slaves In
Page 105 and 106:
or originating from God (tou' … q
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to God and this paves the way for t
Page 109 and 110:
This explains the use of inclusive
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Furthermore, through the direct rep
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what grace is instructing the belie
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Paul demonstrates that he is himsel
Page 117 and 118:
The section closes with the apostle
Page 119 and 120:
Another technique is personificatio
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the apostle adopts to persuade his
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Most commentators treat ejxousivai
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person. Interestingly, both instanc
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2.2.8 Titus 3:3: Evoking disgust wi
Page 129 and 130:
purpose while Mounce (2000:446) bel
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negative. Paranomasia and the metap
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conformity to the divine example. I
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as traditional, with verse 3 as an
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aptism effected by the Holy Spirit
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exclusively or that this constitute
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through self-vilification in the op
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crhstovth" and filanqrwpiva of God
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ejpoihvsamen hJmei`" (works) ajlla;
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these titles. The future appearance
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The certainty and completeness of t
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The next two words in v. 7 are exam
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their salvation by God. The divine
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discourse. In this regard, consider
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two groups is accentuated and the d
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Verse 9 opens with the adversative
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awareness of the insidiousness of f
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This is a very tight unit, carefull
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turn, requires the presence of soun
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closing greeting to the Cretans inv
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SECTION 3 CONCLUSION In Section 1,
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7: Titus 3:1-2: Persuading the Cret
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apostles and lay leaders appointed
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In unit 7 (3:1-2), the relationship
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The second objective is to highligh
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These four objectives may be summar
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expected manner can look forward to
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f. Arguments based on the use of vi
Page 185 and 186:
m. Example. For example, in 3:4-7 G
Page 187 and 188:
ehaviour expected of older men. In
Page 189 and 190:
BIBLIOGRAPHY Aageson, J. W. (1997).
Page 191 and 192:
Everts, J. M. (1993). Hope Dictiona
Page 193 and 194:
Lea, D. and H. P. Griffin (1992). 1
Page 195 and 196:
Sumney, J. L. (1996). “A Reading
Page 197 and 198:
ABSTRACT This study has been conduc
Page 199 and 200:
In Section 3 the results of the stu
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amanuensishipotese en die allonieme
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KEY TERMS 1. Pastoral Letters 2. Rh
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A Text centred rhetorical analysis of Paul's Letter to Titus

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