1 and 2 Thessalonians : a socio-rhetorical commentary / [print]
One and two Thessalonians First and second Thessalonians
Ben Witherington III.
- Grand Rapids, Michigan : William B. Eerdmans Pub. Company, (c)2006.
- xxxi, 286 pages ; 24 cm.
Commentary on 1 Thessalonians. Epistolary Prescript, 1.1 -- The exordium, 1.2-3: a preview of coming attractions -- The narration: the story thus far, 1.4-3.10 -- Transitus: closing wish prayer, 3.11-13 -- The exhortation: a call to holiness and hope, 4.1-5.15. part 1. The call to holiness and brotherly love, 4.1-8, 9-12 ; part 2. The call to hope and alertness: the tale of sleepers dead and living, 4.13-5.11 ; part 3. Honor the workers and the work, 5.12-15 -- The Peroratio: parting shots, 5.16-22 -- The invocation/wish prayer: the God of peace who sanctifies, 5.23-24 -- Epistolary closing, 5.25-28. Commentary on 2 Thessalonians. Epistolary prescript, 1.1-2 -- The exordium/Thanksgiving prayer, 1.3-10: the destiny of the sacred sufferers and the terrible tormentors -- Propositio, 1.11-12: persuasion by a praying proposition -- Refutatio, 2.1-12: prelude to the parousia -- Prayer matters, 2.13-3.5. Thanksgiving/firm living, 2.13-15 ; Transitus: another wish prayer, 2.16-17 ; Final request, 3.1-5 -- Working hypothesis, 3.6-12 -- Peroratio, 3.13-15: on shunning and shaming without excommunicating ; Epistolary closing, 3.16-18. A closer look: Election, persecution, and perseverance in 1 and 2 Thessalonians -- Was Paul anti-semitic? -- Holy wedlock and unholy alliances -- A Christian manual on manual labor? -- The fate of the dead -- Parousia -- Exercising restraint: apocalyptic answers to difficult questions -- On doing theology in ad hoc letters -- The ancient art and labor of letter writing.