Resonance, Dissonance, Resistance and 1 Timothy 2.8-15: The Eschatological Obsolescence and “Rewriting” of a Proscriptive Text

Abstract

This study asks whether translation might be a valid mode of (literary) criticism. It approaches a hortatory biblical text (1 Timothy 2.8-14 [3.1a]), somewhat notoriously and rigidly applied in some quarters of the church as containing timeless ethical instruction concerning women in the church, from the standpoint of its intertextual network, listening for resonance and dissonance as the relevant intertexts and precursor texts are explored. It is ultimately diagnosed as a text that is eschatologically obsolescent, and translated/rewritten, on the basis of its intertextual composition, to reflect the openness inscribed by the authorial Other.

Keywords

• Bible translation
• Saint Paul
• intertextuality
• gender
• Pauline tradition