Does It Matter Who Wrote the Bible? The Pastoral Implications of Pseudepigraphy and Anonymity in the New Testament

by David B. Capes; E. R. Richards

Publisher:

Pickwick Publications

, 2025

Overview

Students in seminary or graduate theology programs learn that some books in the Bible are anonymous. Their professors will make the point that many Pauline letters have disputed authorship and may in fact not be written by Paul. Students will also learn about the practice of pseudonymity in the world of the Bible and how some Gospels or letters are written under a false name. Now for those who become pastors or church leaders, what are they to do with what they learn? Do they teach their congregants about these authorship questions? Do they ignore that part of their training as irrelevant to the task? Do they avoid teaching or reading publicly from disputed books? Do these questions not matter in the end because the church settled on the canon? This book aims to address these pastoral challenges. An international group of scholars from universities, seminaries, and graduate theology programs convened to discuss these matters at the Lanier Theological Library in May 2022. These essays represent how many faculty are wrestling with the pastoral implications of anonymity and pseudonymity in the New Testament.

Key Features

• Aims to address pastoral challenges
• Represent how many faculty are wrestling with the pastoral implications of anonymity and pseudonymity in the New Testament
• Explores the historical, social, theological, canonical, hermeneutical, and spiritual implications of anonymity, pseudonymity, and scriptural authority

Contents

Introduction

• The Theory of New Testament Pseudepigraphy in Light of Second Temple Judaism
• Pseudepigraphy in Early Christianity and Today

The Gospels

• Anonymous Appellations in the Fourth Gospel
• Forgery and the Fourth Gospel
• The Woman Taken in Adultery
• Anonymous or Apostolic?

Paul

• I Am Paul
• Moving the Goalposts
• “Let No One Deceive You in Any Way”
• Pauline Pseudepigrapha as Lieux de Mémoire
• From Hebrews to the Hauptbriefe
• A Pauline Theology from Pseudonymous Letters?

Acts, Hebrews, and the Catholic Letters

• Whose Acts?
• The Mysterious Letter to the “Hebrews”
• The God Who Speaks
• Attested to us by Those Who Heard Him
• Unknown Author and Divine Author
• Pseudepigraphy, Anonymity, and the Authority of the Catholic Epistles

Conclusions

• Bear with This Anonymous Exhortation
• Unstable Canons and the Fingerprints of Forgery
• Recycling Early Christian Canon Criteria

Praise for Does It Matter Who Wrote the Bible?

The question of pseudonymity or anonymity is generally not problematic for pastors in Africa. Most tend to have a very high view of Scripture as both sacred and powerful. However, as the landscape of the global church changes, questions about authorship must be addressed if pastors are to be empowered to serve effectively. This book achieves that by providing valuable insights and anticipating issues that can become problematic for the future of the global church.

——Elizabeth Mburu, associate professor of New Testament and Greek, Africa International University

The gap between scholarly interests and the needs of the church are no more evident than the question of biblical authorship. When it comes to preaching God’s word, does it matter whether John the apostle is the author of the Fourth Gospel? Should church members care whether the so-called pastoral epistles are authentic letters of Paul? Since biblical interpreters tend to rely upon a canon within a canon, should critical scholarship determine which parts of Scripture ought to carry more weight for matters of faith and practice? Gathering a team of experts who offer their academic work in service of the church, David Capes hopes to bridge the gap by exploring the historical, social, theological, canonical, hermeneutical, and spiritual implications of anonymity, pseudonymity, and scriptural authority. A hefty volume of engaging reflections and sound advice, scholars and pastors need to read this book.

——Rodney Reeves, senior pastor, First Baptist Church, Jonesboro, Arkansas

Product Details

• Title: Does It Matter Who Wrote the Bible? The Pastoral Implications of Pseudepigraphy and Anonymity in the New Testament
• Authors: David B. Capes, E. R. Richards
• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Print Publication Date: 2025
• Logos Release Date: 2025
• Pages: 538
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
• ISBNs: 9781666782639, 9781666782622, 1666782629, 9781666782615, 1666782610, 1666782637
• Resource ID: LLS:9781666782639
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2025-06-13T01:02:48Z