style and pseudonymity in pauline scholarship 135
thought before him, argues that Paul likely did not write 1 timothy and
titus, but did author 2 timothy. and he argues that starting from this
standpoint, a second roman imprisonment seems most likely.65 We have
some tradition (eusebius, Eccl. hist. 2.22; 1 Clement 5; Acts of Peter 1:1)66
that reflects continued missionary activity from Paul after his initial
imprisonment in rome recorded by luke (a fourth missionary journey
perhaps?). one could attempt to locate the Pastorals or just 1 timothy
and titus earlier in Paul’s career, but i agree with marshall and towner
that if one adopts Pauline authorship for the Pastorals, “the theory of the
second imprisonment affords less difficulties than attempting to place
1 tim and tit earlier in his career”67 or even potentially on his fourth mis-
sionary journey. these evaluations will not convince everyone.68 But this
is not the point. all we need to establish in order to test this interpretive
framework is some basic sociological components that would likely be
operative, if Paul did write all 13 letters found within the new testament.
at least on the assumption of Pauline authorship, these social parameters
seem likely.
in order to create this landscape, i shall use the basic template and its
components developed above on a slightly larger scale. a few changes
between this actual landscape of Pauline register profiles and the sample
template should be noted. first, since we now have register profiles popu-
lated by more than one writing, we need a way of accounting for slight
variation within each register profile so that we have a good idea of how
tightly each profile groups contextually. i have indicated variation by plac-
ing a grey box on situational components that vary from the others in
their profile. Second, i have used a scale to rank the interactiveness com-
ponent. interactiveness is formally encoded through the use of private
verbs, first and second person pronouns and verb endings, demonstrative
pronouns, analytic negation, imperfective aspect and use of being verbs
as the main verbs, along with other features. o’donnell, on the basis of
65 Jerome murphy-o’connor, “2 timothy contrasted with 1 timothy and titus,” RB 98
(1991): 403–18. i still find the evidence in montgomery hitchcock, “St. Paul’s Second impris-
onment in rome,” The Churchman 42 (1928): 295–301 and Wolfgang metzger, Die letzte
Reise des Apostels Paulus: Beobachtungen und Erwägungen zu seinem Itinerar nach den
Pastoralbriefen (arbeiten zur theologie 59; Stuttgart: calwer Verlag, 1976), relevant here
as well.
66 cf. i. howard marshall and Philip h. towner, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary
on the Pastoral Epistles (icc; london: t&t clark, 2004), 68.
67 marshall and towner, Pastoral Epistles, 72.
68 on the challenges of register analysis in Pauline literature, see o’donnell, Corpus
Linguistics, 120.