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Who wrote II Thessalonians?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2009

John A. Bailey
John A. Bailey
Affiliation:
Ann Arbor, Mich., U.S.A.
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Extract

Since World War II a considerable number of New Testament scholars (many of them German) have come to the conclusion that Paul did not write II Thessalonians. Among these the names of Rudolf Bultmann, Günther Bornkamm, Willi Marxsen, and Helmut Koester come to mind. What is curious is that to date no single commentary has appeared in any major European language which interprets II Thessalonians as pseudonymous. C. Masson in the introduction to his commentary decides against Pauline authorship, but in the commentary itself interprets as though Paul were the author – an anomaly perhaps related to his view of pseudonymity. The forth-coming commentaries of Marxsen and Koester will therefore provide scholars with the first examples of exegesis of the letter as non-Pauline. Since the issue of authorship is evidently by no means settled, the present article examines the evidence for both positions and concludes with a discussion of pseudonymity in the ancient world.

Type
Articles
Information
New Testament Studies , Volume 25 , Issue 2 , January 1979 , pp. 131 - 145
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1979

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References

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page 131 note 7 Ibid. p. 84 n. 1.

page 131 note 8 In the Meyer and Hermeneia series, respectively.

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page 139 note 1 Had Paul stayed there only three or four weeks he would not have had to work at all, whereas in I Thess. ii. 9 he says he worked night and day – he means as a tentmaker – that he might not be a burden to the Thessalonians.

page 140 note 1 Op. cit. pp. 560–78.

page 140 note 2 Op. cit. pp. 335–7.

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page 141 note 3 Op. cit. p. 67.

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page 144 note 1 History 1.22.

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page 144 note 3 Republic 376 f., 382, 414, 159.

page 144 note 4 History 7.6.

page 144 note 5 De Baptismo 17.

page 145 note 1 R. Bultmann, loc. cit.

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