Sheffield New Testament Guides: The Pastoral Epistles

1 and 2 Timothy and Titus were once read as individual collections of traditional material—liturgical formulae, lists of virtues and vices, household codes, and codes for church order—but more recent studies have elucidated the coherence of each epistle. This volume exhorts readers through explicit and implicit, positive and negative examples, and through arguments that seek to ground ethics theologically and christologically. The author also highlights a question posed by contemporary scholars about the general philosophy of these epistles: do they seek to adapt a faith that opposes the wisdom of the world into one which conforms to the world’s wisdom about good citizenship? This guide provides a critical introduction to the insights of recent scholarship and to the epistles themselves.