Difference and Distance in Post-Pauline Christianity: An Epistolary Analysis of the Pastorals (Studies in Biblical Literature, Vol. 44)

Critics engaged in the study of the Pastoral Epistles consistently treat the three documentsas a unit, almost universally assuming that they were written (pseudonymously) by asingle author to address the needs of a single community of Pauline Christians around theturn of the first century. This assumption is not without foundation: the letters shareunique similarities with one another with regard to language, style, subject matter butalso differ in significant ways from the rest of the Pauline corpus, again with regard tolanguage, style, subject matter.In Difference and Distance in Post-Pauline Christianity, William A. Richards seeks todemolish this consensus. His thesis is that the Pastorals represent three different stages ofdevelopment in post-Pauline Christianity around 100 C.E., addressing three differentcommunities and situations. He attempts to establish this thesis by examining each of thePastorals as an individual letter in its own right, via a thorough analysis of each againstthe most current understanding of Greco-Roman epistolography.In the first chapter, Richards examines literature parallel to the Pastorals. [Full Review]