Secretaries and the Authorship of New Testament Epistles: Evaluating the Historical Method behind the Amanuensis Hypothesis
The amanuensis hypothesis has long been a popular method of defending traditional authorship claims of disputed NT epistles. Scholars who espouse this view maintain that, in the Greco-Roman world, secretaries were afforded the freedom to (extensively) shape the letters they transcribed. As a result,...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2025
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| In: |
The catholic biblical quarterly
Year: 2025, Volume: 87, Issue: 3, Pages: 502-520 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Catholic epistles
/ Pauline letters
/ Pseudepigraphy
/ Secretary (motif)
/ Epistolography
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| IxTheo Classification: | HC New Testament KAB Church history 30-500; early Christianity TB Antiquity |
| Further subjects: | B
secretary
B Catholic Eepistles B amanuensis B Type and type-founding B Pauline Epistles B Epistolography |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | The amanuensis hypothesis has long been a popular method of defending traditional authorship claims of disputed NT epistles. Scholars who espouse this view maintain that, in the Greco-Roman world, secretaries were afforded the freedom to (extensively) shape the letters they transcribed. As a result, proponents contend that authenticity judgments cannot be based on the style or content of a given letter. While various objections have been leveled against the theory over the years, its methodological underpinnings have been largely overlooked. With a view toward the standard objectives and processes that define the historical method, I examine how the amanuensis hypothesis has been constructed. I seek to demonstrate the (methodological) fragility of the theory by focusing on its historiographic aims, argumentative logic, and evidential basis. |
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| ISSN: | 2163-2529 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: The catholic biblical quarterly
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1353/cbq.2025.a970484 |
