BNTC Survey on Pauline Authorship

BNTC Survey on Pauline Authorship

Rick Sumner shared this delightful image (from a Koine Greek subreddit that I had no idea existed!):

Click through to see the image full size.

I really appreciate Rick’s comments on the results. And I think that seeing numbers like these can be more helpful than references to “what scholars think” or “the consensus view.” Quantifying the matter – even in an anecdotal survey – helps readers see that there are some things that scholars genuinely agree on (Paul wrote 1 Corinthians, he did not write Hebrews), things that there is a solid majority view about (the Pastoral Epistles), and things about which there is significant disagreement (Ephesians). The audience may or may not have had more conservatives present than is typical across all of academia, which would affect the precise numbers, much as an opposite leaning in a different audience might slant things in the opposite direction. But the overall impression conveyed is useful nevertheless.

The image is from an appendix to Paul Foster’s article “Who Wrote 2 Thessalonians? A Fresh Look at an Old Problem” (published in JSNT in 2012).


Browse Our Archives