ACCEPTING THE PAULINE CORPUS

ACCEPTING THE PAULINE CORPUS

Virgil Warren, PhD

1               Hebrews

Titus

2               2 Timothy

1 Timothy

Ephesians

                        modern order of                            2 Thessalonians

                        being questioned               3          1 Thessalonians

                                                                              Philemon

Colossians

Philippians

Galatians

2 Corinthians

1 Corinthians

Romans

            There is a distinction between progressivism and evolution, the one being forward movement while the latter is simply modification. Progressivism in the 1800s expressed itself in post-millennialism and in biblical criticism in the Tübingen school, which denied to Paul all his letters except four: Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, and Galatians. German rationalism postulated a long upward development pattern that brought about the Christian literary canon as late as A.D. 180. In the 1900s, this extreme gave way to a more reasonable approach that did not see a need for 150 years to develop the New Testament documents. Some, like John A. T. Robinson went to the opposite extreme by saying that all the New Testament books could have existed by A.D. 70. World War I smashed the onward-and-upward hopefulness about humankind, and led to pre-millennialism eschatologically and a turn toward less extreme critical viewpoints in New Testament studies. The evolutionary framework is still presupposed, but Paul is usually allowed to have at least nine of the letters that ancient Christian writers assigned to him.

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