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

Titus, with some exceptions, continues largely to be relegated to the periphery
of scholarly endeavours.
2. The Pastorals as a unit or corpus versus the individuality of the Letter to Titus
Following on from the above, the individuality of the different letters has not
been sufficiently appreciated while under the microscope of scholarly
investigation. Despite preoccupying themselves with the Pastoral corpus,
scholars appear largely to have done so, at the risk of failure to observe that
this ‘unit’ actually comprises three individual letters. Each of these, despite
their commonality, manifests sufficient degrees of original emphases,
revealing remarkable idiosyncrasy. Still, the Pastoral Letters continue largely
to be treated as a unit with primary emphasis falling on the Letters to Timothy.
3. Rhetorical praxis versus the theological and practical implications of the Letter to
Titus
A major advance, due to the utilisation of rhetorical criticism, was that the
biblical text again came to enjoy centrality, over against the approach of the
historical critical methodology. Unfortunately, this has not translated into a
serious application of rhetorical criticism to the text of particularly the Letter to
Titus. It appears as if a plateau has been reached in regard to the potential of
rhetorical criticism. In other words, the promise that rhetorical criticism holds is
not being maximised as a technique to enhance our encounter with the text,
climaxing in proclamation and edification of the Church.
The relationship between rhetorical criticism and the Pastorals seems to have
reached an impasse: authorship and rhetorical theory. The investigation
needs to be advanced and the promise of rhetorical criticism must be tested.
Whereas certain aspects of the theology and rhetoric of the Letter to Titus
have recently come under the spotlight, there remains room for a
comprehensive rhetorical analysis of this letter that will bring together and
develop, what has apparently, till now, been considered in isolated studies.
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