Cohesion and Structure in the Pastoral Epistles. By RAY VAN NESTE.

Abstract

In the past twenty five years or so, the ‘Pastoral Epistles’ have been subjected to numerous tests of background, exegesis, and theology in the effort to prove, improve or disprove the adequacy of their interpretation which has come to be the scholarly consensus. This consensus is of course shaped by decisions about pseudonymity, post-apostolic setting, ethics, developments or diminishment in Pauline theology, etc., but the structure of the letters, as such, has more often been relegated to commentary introductions, so Dr Van Neste's thorough discourse-analytical examination of the coherence and structure of each letter is an important contribution to filling a noticeable gap in the research. Although in the latest reconstructions, the issue of the letters’ coherence has not figured as prominently as it did in Dibelius's day (J. D. Miller 1997 is the main exception), the related literary issue of the individuality of the three letters has now come fully to the fore. And in this respect too, the present monograph will help facilitate a reading/hearing of these epistles that acknowledges them as independent messages. Cohesion and Structure is a revised dissertation (written under Prof. I. H. Marshall's supervision at the University of Aberdeen); with Scripture and Author indexes and one Appendix (‘Cohesion Shift Analysis of the Pastoral Epistles’). The clarity and effectiveness of presentation and argument are commendable.