Ancient Letters and the New Testament

A Guide to Context and Exegesis

Hans-Josef Klauck

With the collaboration of Daniel P. Bailey

Baylor University Press

Waco, Texas

English Translation © 2006 by Baylor University Press

Waco, Texas 76798

All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission in writing of Baylor University Press.

Translated from Die antike Briefliteratur und das Neue Testament: Ein Lehr- und Arbeitsbuch/Hans-Josef Klauck © 1998 Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn, Germany, with revisions and additions for the English edition. Translated and edited by Daniel P. Bailey.

Book Design: Diane Smith

Cover Design: Pamela Poll

Cover Image: “Letter from Apion” from an Egyptian soldier in the Roman navy to his father. Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany. Photo Credit: Bildarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz/Art Resource, NY

Back Cover Image: Codex Sinaiticus. Used by permission of the British Library (Add. 43725 f. 323).

Figure 1: “The Manufacture of Papyrus” from Der Neue Pauly, vol. 9 (2000). Used by permsission.

Figure 2: E. G. Turner, The Typology of the Early Codex (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1977) 45. Reprinted by permission of the University of Pennsylvania Press.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Klauck, Hans-Josef.

[Antike Briefliteratur und das Neue Testament. English]

Ancient letters and the New Testament: a guide to context and exegesis/Hans-Josef Klauck with the collaboration of Daniel P. Bailey.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

ISBN-13: 978-1-932792-40-9 (pbk.: alk. paper)

1. Bible. N.T. Epistles--Language, style--Textbooks. 2. Classical letters--History and criticism--Textbooks. 3. Letter writing, Classical--Textbooks. I. Bailey, Daniel P. II. Title.

BS2635.6.L3K5313 2006

227'.06--dc22

2006020603

Contents

Preface

Abbreviations

General Bibliographies

List of Bibliographies

List of Exercises

Introduction

1 Foundations—Two Letters of Apion and Two Letters of the “Elder”

2 Practical Realities—Paper and Postal System

3 Nonliterary and Diplomatic Correspondence

4 Poetry and Philosophy—Literary Letters

5 Epistolary Theory and Rhetoric

6 Letters in Early Judaism

7 New Testament Letters I: Overview

8 New Testament Letters II: Selected Texts

Epilogue

Answer Key

Index of Ancient Sources

Index of Authors

Index of Subjects

Preface

“I think I should understand that better,” Alice said very politely, “if I had it written down: but I can’t quite follow it as you say it.”

—Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland, chap. 9

Picking up on an incomplete ancient definition that requires some supplementation, we have grown accustomed to regarding a letter as “half of a dialogue” or as a continuation of a conversation by other means. Recently we have also learned to understand the letter as a speech or sermon, ...