Formation Chapter 7: The Epistles

Transcription

1 Formation Chapter 7: The Epistles Almighty God, whose Son our Savior Jesus Christ is the light of the world: Grant that your people, illumined by your Word and Sacraments, may shine with the radiance of Christ's glory, that he may be known, worshipped, and obeyed to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

2 This collect is new to our American Prayer Book. It is based on a collect from the Book of Common Worship of the Church of South India. The Church of South India is the representative of the Anglican Communion in southern India and was formed by a union of Anglican, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Congregational churches in the 1950's. With a membership of over 4 million, it is India's second largest Christian church after the Catholic Church in India. CSI is one of four united churches in the Anglican Communion.

3 The Books of the New Testament can be divided into 4 types: 1.Gospels 2.Historical writing 3.Letters (Epistles) 4.Apocalyptic writing

4 The Letters of s letters are the earliest writings in the New Testament. Here they are listed in order of appearance in the New Testament. Romans 1 Corinthians 2 Corinthians Galatians Ephesians Philippians Colossians 1 Thessalonians 2 Thessalonians 1 Timothy 2 Timothy Titus Philemon

5 Sometimes s letters are grouped into those written to churches and those written to individuals. Some scholars point out that the letter to the Ephesians is more of a circular letter, not meant for one church, but many. To Churches: Romans 1 Corinthians 2 Corinthians Galatians Ephesians Philippians Colossians 1 Thessalonians 2 Thessalonians

6 To Individuals: 1 Timothy 2 Timothy Titus Philemon Since most of these letters are instructions for how these disciples of are to be good pastors to their churches, these letters are often called The Pastoral Epistles.

7 The General Epistles Also called the Catholic Epistles, the General Epistles are so called because they are directed to a general audience, not to a particular person or church, and they were not written by the Apostle. The book of Hebrews The book of James The book of 1 Peter The book of 2 Peter The books of 1, 2, and 3 John The book of Jude The authorship of these books is debated.

8 Historical Book There is one historical book in the New Testament: The Acts of the Apostles. It is the record of the growth and development of the Christian church after the Ascension of Christ. It was written by Luke as a companion volume to his gospel. Acts of the Apostles In our lectionary, all the New Testament books which are not Gospels are lumped under the name Epistles, though that is not technically true. In the Easter season, a reading from Acts traditionally replaces the Old Testament reading in our Eucharist.

9 Apocalyptic There is one apocalyptic book in the New Testament: The Revelation to John. Apocalyptic writing typically details the authors' visions of the end times The Revelation to John (a.k.a. The Apocalypse ) There is much disagreement as to the author of the Revelation. The text does not claim that the author is the Disciple John. Sometimes the author of the Revelation is distinguished from John the Evangelist by being called John the Divine (divine=theologian) or John of Patmos.

10 This chart shows the different views of Conservative and Liberal scholars regarding the dates and authorships of the ine Epistles. Notice that according to Liberal scholarship, there are only 7 letters indisputably written by. Romans Galatians Titus Philemon Epistle 1 Corinthians 2 Corinthians Ephesians Philippians Colossians 1 Thessalonians 2 Thessalonians 1 Timothy 2 Timothy Major Major Major Early Early Early Group of Epistles Prison Prison Prison Pastoral Pastoral Pastoral Prison Conservative Christian Beliefs Date Written (4) CE Author (4) Before 95 CE probably 150 CE 150 CE 150 CE Liberal Christian Beliefs Date Written (5) CE (Ch.1-15) Unknown Probably Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown Author (5)

11 Most liberal scholars of New Testament theology believe that: Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Philemon, Galatians, Philippians and 1 Thessalonians were written by. Colossians may have been written by. 2 Thessalonians and Ephesians probably were not. 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus were definitely pseudonymous (written by a unknown person, passing the writings off as 's.) They were written 35 to 85 years after 's death. Although such a writer would be considered a forger today, the practice was quite common in the 1st century CE, and was considered acceptable behavior even honorific.

12 There were many other early Christian writings which didn t get into the New Testament. Here is one scholars attempt to date the various writings:

13 30-60 Passion Narrative Lost Sayings Gospel Q Thessalonians Philippians Galatians Corinthians Corinthians Romans Philemon Colossians Signs Gospel Book of Hebrews Didache Gospel of Thomas Apocalypse of Adam Eugnostos the Blessed Sophia of Jesus Christ Gospel of Mark Epistle of James Egerton Gospel Gospel of Peter Secret Mark Fayyum Fragment Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs Mara Bar Serapion 2 Thessalonians Ephesians Gospel of Matthew

14 Peter Epistle of Barnabas Gospel of Luke Acts of the Apostles 1 Clement Flavius Josephus 1 Timothy 2 Timothy Gospel of the Egyptians Gospel of the Hebrews Christian Sibyllines Apocalypse of John Gospel of John 1 John 2 John 3 John Epistle of Jude Titus Apocalypse of Peter Secret Book of James Preaching of Peter Gospel of the Ebionites

15 Gospel of the Nazoreans Shepherd of Hermas 2 Peter Odes of Solomon Gospel of Eve

16 For most of our Church Year, our Revised Common Lectionary assigns Epistle readings to be read serially: We start at the beginning of an Epistle and read it through to the end, in sequence. No attempt is made to have the theme of the Epistle reading go along with the theme of the Gospel. In high holy seasons (Easter, Christmas, major feasts), however, such attempt IS often made when choosing the Epistle reading.