First and Second Timothy and Titus (Paideia: Commentaries on the New Testament)
Overview
Drawing from many parts of the broad Christian tradition, this commentary on First and Second Timothy and Titus helps readers gain a stronger understanding of early Christian ministry in the first two centuries. Paideia commentaries show how the texts use ancient narrative and rhetorical strategies to form and shape the reader and provide a fresh reading of the biblical texts in light of ancient culture and modern issues. Students, pastors, and other readers will appreciate the historical, literary, and theological insight offered in this commentary.
Paideia: Commentaries on the New Testament explores how New Testament texts inform Christian readers by:
- Attending to the ancient narrative and rhetorical strategies the text employs
- Showing how the text shapes theological convictions and moral habits
- Commenting on the final, canonical form of each New Testament book
- Focusing on the cultural, literary, and theological settings of the text
- Making judicious use of maps, photos, and sidebars in a reader-friendly format
The Paideia series approaches each text in its final, canonical form, proceeding by sense units (pericopes) rather than word-by-word or verse-by-verse. Thus, each commentary follows the original train of thought as indicated by the author instead of modern artificial distinctions. Using this approach, one is able to grasp not only the exegetical-historical information of a passage, but also follow a coherent theological expression throughout.
Finally, this series is enormously helpful and practical through its usage of small visual presentations of historical, exegetical, and theological information. Highly user friendly, this is a great resource for college students, pastors, or those who want to take their Bible study to another level.
- Includes introductions and bibliographies for each book
- Contains indexes of subjects, modern authors, and Scripture and ancient sources
- Provides notes, outlines, images, and tables for further clarity
Top Highlights
“Timothy would have been at least 30 if Paul wrote to him in the early 60s. And whatever his exact age, he had 12–15 years of experience as Paul’s closest associate (Phil. 2:19–24), trusted to handle the most delicate situations (1 Thess. 3:1–10; 1 Cor. 4:16–17; Hutson 1997). The same was true for Titus (2 Cor. 8:16–17; Gal. 2:1), who similarly finds his peer group among the ‘younger men’ (Titus 2:6–8).” (Pages 4–5)
“This is looking through the wrong end of a telescope, when what is needed is a wide-angle lens that comprehends these two passages in the light of everything the NT says about women (Hutson 1996).” (Page 81)
“The ‘word’ that Timothy is to proclaim is the story of the death and resurrection of Jesus (2:15; cf. 1 Tim. 6:3; Titus 1:3, 9; ‘faithful sayings’ and quotations throughout the PE).” (Page 198)
“A more satisfactory sequence would be Titus→1 Timothy→2 Timothy based on formal features and internal logic” (Page 6)
“1 Timothy and Titus resemble administrative letters, while 2 Timothy has many features of a testament” (Page 5)
Paideia: Commentaries on the New Testament explores how New Testament texts inform Christian readers by:
- Attending to the ancient narrative and rhetorical strategies the text employs
- Showing how the text shapes theological convictions and moral habits
- Commenting on the final, canonical form of each New Testament book
- Focusing on the cultural, literary, and theological settings of the text
- Making judicious use of maps, photos, and sidebars in a reader-friendly format
The Paideia series approaches each text in its final, canonical form, proceeding by sense units (pericopes) rather than word-by-word or verse-by-verse. Thus, each commentary follows the original train of thought as indicated by the author instead of modern artificial distinctions. Using this approach, one is able to grasp not only the exegetical-historical information of a passage, but also follow a coherent theological expression throughout.
Finally, this series is enormously helpful and practical through its usage of small visual presentations of historical, exegetical, and theological information. Highly user friendly, this is a great resource for college students, pastors, or those who want to take their Bible study to another level.
This commentary is sound, reasoned, and so clearly written that it is a pleasure to read. The author is conversant with relevant literature from Aristotle to the Talmud to Erasmus, and he introduces it in illuminating ways. His conviction that the Pastorals are meant for the formation of ministers allows him to approach disputed questions with an open mind as he guides readers toward responsible interpretation.
—Carolyn Osiek, Charles Fischer Professor of New Testament Emerita, Brite Divinity School
Hutson’s volume takes its place among leading commentaries and innovative studies on the Pastoral Epistles. Reading them as a collection of letters for forming and evaluating ministers, Hutson presents honest and often challenging discussion of cultural differences between the ancient world and our own. His commentary is deeply informed by the language and training of ancient philosophical schools and approaches to curriculum that help us to understand the value of reading the Pastorals as a guide to the formation of ministers, highlighting the relationship between education and leadership. Both learned and accessible, this commentary will be of great value to scholars, students, and those engaged in the challenges of contemporary ministry.
—Margaret Y. MacDonald, dean of arts, Saint Mary's University
As a trustworthy trail guide, Hutson leads readers through the overgrowth of scholarship that blankets the forest of the Pastoral Epistles and through its fragrant promise for youthful ministers, while cautioning against the poison oak along the path. Hutson deftly guides readers beyond the slippery ravines of authorship and the nature of the opponents, directing our attention instead to the vista of the Pastorals' broader aim of negotiating a threatening imperial situation. In conversation with ancient philosophical, political, and religious analogues, Hutson deftly exposits the Pastorals' message and rhetoric as well as the texts' reception history among late antique monastics, medieval mystics, reformers, and feminist scholars. This commentary is to be celebrated as a distinctly beneficial resource for aspiring ministers and for students of the Pastorals.
—T. Christopher Hoklotubbe, assistant professor of religion, Cornell College
- Title: Paideia Commentaries on the New Testament: First and Second Timothy and Titus
- Author: Christopher R. Hutson
- Series: Paideia Commentaries on the New Testament
- Publisher: Baker
- Pages: 320
- Resource Type: Commentaries
- Topics: New Testament Biblical Studies