On Pauline Quotation Modes and Their Textual-Literary Value. A Brief Note On “2 Timothy”, 2, 19

Rivista semestrale online / Biannual online journal http://www.parolerubate.unipr.it Fascicolo n. 17 / Issue no. 17 Giugno 2018 / June 2018 Direttore / Editor Rinaldo Rinaldi (Università di Parma) Comitato scientifico / Research Committee Mariolina Bongiovanni Bertini (Università di Parma) Dominique Budor (Université de la Sorbonne Nouvelle – Paris III) Roberto Greci (Università di Parma) Heinz Hofmann (Universität Tübingen) Bert W. Meijer (Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Instituut Firenze / Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht) María de las Nieves Muñiz Muñiz (Universitat de Barcelona) Diego Saglia (Università di Parma) Francesco Spera (Università Statale di Milano) Segreteria di redazione / Editorial Staff Maria Elena Capitani (Università di Parma) Nicola Catelli (Università di Parma) Arianna Giardini (Università Statale di Milano) Chiara Rolli (Università di Parma) Esperti esterni (fascicolo n. 17) / External referees (issue no. 17) Gioia Angeletti (Università di Parma) Guglielmo Barucci (Università Statale di Milano) Laura Carrara (Universität Tübingen) Corrado Confalonieri (Harvard University) Giulio Iacoli (Università di Parma) Guido Santato (Università di Padova) Progetto grafico / Graphic design Jelena Radojev † Direttore responsabile: Rinaldo Rinaldi Autorizzazione Tribunale di Parma n. 14 del 27 maggio 2010 © Copyright 2018 – ISSN: 2039-0114 INDEX / CONTENTS PALINSESTI / PALIMPSESTS A che serve parlare di fonti? (cortese invito a farsi venire qualche dubbio) GIAN PIERO MARAGONI (Université de Fribourg) 3-20 Il romanzo di Elena in Achille Tazio: reminiscenze tragiche GRETA CASTRUCCI (Università Statale di Milano) 21-42 “Un mazzolin di rose e di viole”. Lecture anti-leopardienne de quelques poèmes de Giovanni Pascoli FABRICE DE POLI (Université Savoie Mont Blanc) 43-64 “Quashed Quotatoes”. Per qualche citazione irregolare (terza parte) 65-87 RINALDO RINALDI (Università di Parma) MATERIALI / MATERIALS On Pauline Quotation Modes and Their Textual-Literary Value. A Brief Note On “2 Timothy”, 2, 19 SIMONE TURCO (Università di Genova) 91-96 Citer à sa manière. Giovan Francesco Straparola et Girolamo Morlini ROSARIA IOUNES-VONA (Université de Lorraine) 97-104 Il ritratto dell’ozioso. Le citazioni morali di Francesco Fulvio Frugoni MAICOL CUTRÌ (Università di Bologna) 105-119 Gli “Appunti” linguistici di Tommaso Valperga di Caluso e qualche citazione dantesca MILENA CONTINI (Università di Torino) 121-128 Un ricordo di Delio Tessa: Edoardo Ferravilla e la parodia dell’opera ANDREA SCIUTO (ITIS Pietro Paleocapa – Bergamo) 129-139 “Ho, mia kor”. Lazar Ludwik Zamenhof fra Archiloco e Shakespeare DAVIDE ASTORI (Università di Parma) 141-149 Un processo ad Antigone. “The Island” di Athol Fugard, John Kani e Winston Ntshona CHIARA ROLLI (Università di Parma) 151-163 Parole Rubate / Purloined Letters http://www.parolerubate.unipr.it Fascicolo n. 17 / Issue no. 17 – Giugno 2018 / June 2018 SIMONE TURCO ON PAULINE QUOTATION MODES AND THEIR TEXTUAL-LITERARY VALUE. A BRIEF NOTE ON “2 TIMOTHY”, 2, 19 Like most of its kind, the apostle Paul’s second Epistle to Timothy contains several more-or-less overt references to parts of the Hebrew Scriptures reinterpreted in a Christian light. Among these, however, a text is found which includes a twofold quotation not entirely – or directly – ascribable to the Hebrew writings. Even though this text has already been analysed from an exegetical viewpoint, has seldom been considered in the context of textual analysis and authorship studies. The well-known text is 2 Timothy, 2, 19, which reads: “Ό μέντοι στερεὸς θεμέλιος τοῦ θεοῦ ἕστηκεν, ἔχων τὴν σφραγῖδα ταύτην Ἔγνω Κύριος τοὺς ὄντας αὐτοῦ, καί Ἀποστήτω ἀπὸ ἀδικίας πᾶς ὁ ὀνομάζων τὸ ὄνομα Κυρίου”1 1 B. F. Westcott – F. J. A. Hort, The New Testament in the Original Greek, American edition, New York, Harper & Brothers, 1882, p. 493. Translation: “However, the FIRM Foundation of GOD stands having this INSCRIPTION, ‘The LORD knows THOSE who are his;’ and, “Let EVERY ONE who NAMES the NAME of the Lord depart from Parole Rubate / Purloined Letters 92 The context in which the words are set is a stern condemnation of apostate ideas that seem to have infiltrated the Ecclesia as early as 65 C. E., when the letter is thought to have been penned.2 In chapter 2, the writer advises the recipient how to deal with those who entertained and spread the belief that the resurrection had already occurred (8-13). Subsequently, Timothy is warned against useless debates about words, empty speeches and ungodly rumors that would become as contagious as gangrene, and two early supporters of the doctrine of mere spiritual resurrection, Hymenaeus Iniquity.’” (B. Wilson, The Emphatic Diaglott, New York, International Bible Students Association, 1942, p. 714). 2 There has been much dispute as to whether this Pastoral Epistle (out of the three that were given this label) was actually written by Paul. A considerable number of scholars concluded that it was not written by the apostle, but by someone who knew about Paul’s last days. The basis for such assumption is the same as is used to disprove the traditional authorship of other Bible writings, even by the same author (mainly Paul), namely, the fact that the style of this one letter differs from that of others bearing his name. However, by such standards, very few works, not only within the Biblical canon, could be associated with any certain writer, as if an author could not change his style, lexicon and form even considerably depending on his readership. Textual analysis is not conducive to the former conclusion, nor does it leave scholarship free from biased standpoints. Although much stylistic analysis favours the assumption that too wide deviations from the norm should be viewed as a sign of a different authorship, alleged proof of apocryphalness in the case analysed here has usually been inferred on rather weak basis, namely, a difference in ‘tone’ and ‘contents’ in respect of, for example, 1 Timothy. Interestingly, and paradoxically, Jerome Murphy-O’Connor, himself an supporter of the idea that the Pastorals as a whole are not genuine, has come to the conclusion that 2 Timothy is the only genuine one of the three (1 Timothy and Titus being, in his view, later inclusions) : see for completeness R. F. Collins, 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus: A Commentary, Louisville, Westminster John Knox Press, 2002, as well as J. Murphy-O’Connor, Paul: A Critical Life, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1996, pp. 357 and ff. Further, the quotation-style complements Paul’s as expressed in other canonical writings, and the quotation-context in particular follows a pattern of reasoning that is akin to his manner of developing arguments. In this respect, see P. H. Towner, The Letters to Timothy and Titus, Grand Rapids – Cambridge, William B. Eerdmans, 2006, pp. 3-9; Towner also provides a detailed bibliography of both ‘supporters’ of and ‘dissenters’ from the assumption of Paul’s authorship of the Pastorals. Besides revealing an inherent weakness in stylistic methodology (the merits of which it is not our aim or duty to expand on here), the case of 2 Timothy shows how the problem of Pauline textual criticism is still far from beig solved; it would call for a reconsideration of stylistic aspects in more comprehensive and unprejudiced terms. Simone Turco, On Pauline Quotation Modes 93 and Philetus, are mentioned by name (14-18). Thereafter, by the adversative conjunction μέντοι (‘however’, ‘indeed’, ‘to be sure’), the text introduces the expressions of 19 as two quotations put on an equal level. As to the first one, we have an official source highlighted by most commentators: the words are taken almost verbatim from the Septuagint version of Numbers, 16, 5: “ἔγνω ὁ θεὸς τοὺς ὄντας αὐτοῦ”.3 The context is the Levite Korah and his crowd of rebels being summoned before the Tabernacle for God to express his judgment on them. The second quotation has no equally clear source, as no match can be found in any Old Testament text. As mentioned earlier, since the writer presents them both as equally direct quotations, the latter one, not being so in the actual sense, must be considered as such from an exegetical point of view.4 Explaining the verse, Charles John Ellicott presents us with an exhaustive précis on the major interpretations furnished up to his time (and as they mostly remained even later): “The thought [of the second quote] is expressed in a wider and more general form in Isaiah 52:11: ‘Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing . . . Be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the Lord;’ and for the words ‘nameth the name of the Lord,’ see Isaiah 26:13. ‘Naming the name of Jesus’5 must be understood in the sense of the last clause of 1 Corinthians 12:3;6 in other words, this sentence of the 3 Septuaginta; id est vetus testamentum graece iuxta LXX interpretes, Editio altera quam recognovit et emendavit R. Hanhart (Rahlfs-Hanhart), Stuttgart, Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2006, p, 243. Translation: “Jehova will show who are his” (The Holy Bible. American Standard Version, [1901], New York, Watchtower and Tract Society – International Bible Students Association, 1944, p. 166 [Old Testament Section]). 4 The exegetical issue is discussed at length in C. R. Erdman, The Pastoral Epistles of Paul: An Exposition, Philadelphia, Westminster, 1923, pp. 82-130. See also, much more recently, R. F. Collins, 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus: A Commentary, cit., pp. 214-238. 5 “The Lord” can here be intended as referring to God himself, the application to Jesus possibly being result of confessional leanings [my note]. 6 The Holy Bible. American Standard Version, cit., p. 192 (New Testament Section): “Wherefore I make known unto you, that no man speaking in the Spirit of God saith, Jesus is anathema; and no man can say, Jesus is Lord, but in the Holy Spirit” [my note]. Parole Rubate / Purloined Letters 94 inscription signifies that no man confessing with the heart that Jesus is Lord can commit iniquity deliberately—the two things are utterly incompatible. ‘Iniquity’ here includes the teaching of those false men above alluded to, as their teaching led away from the truth, and resulted in a lax and evil way of life.”7 Timothy’s correspondent actuates here a refined textual operation. He presents the recipient with a direct quote he may well have been acquainted with (since it was taken from a well-known version that widely circulated in the Hellenized world) and then interpolates a statement which acquires equal force due to the former one – certainly canonical – but which is the result of his own theological gleaning. In fact, the second statement is the distilled product of various Bible texts and contexts put together to resemble a genuine quotation whose sense might ideally match the first one and, most importantly, provide a suitable climax for the reasoning expressed in the chapter. This operation, of a textual kind, takes on even greater significance considering the letter’s peculiar target-readership as well as text-economy. The epistle’s frame hinges on two key aspects. Firstly, Paul felt his death was imminent; the effort he poured out into his writing amounted to a concentration of reasonings and admonitions that had to be carried out in a reduced time-space frame. Secondly, the epistle was addressed to Timothy, who already knew Paul’s style and general line of reasoning, and who would thus be able to use it to convey a powerful, direct reminder to the Ecclesia, which had to be spurred on to take definite stand against thenflourishing apostasy. In such a context, the letter, of a private kind and evidently not meant for wide distribution at first, was to be brief, 7 A New Testament Commentary for English Readers, edited by C. J. Ellicott, London – Paris – New York, Cassel, 1884, vol. III, p. 230. See also J. M. Bassler, Abingdon New Testament Commentaries: 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, Nashville, Abingdon Press, 2011, p. 147, where the interpretation’s sole focus is on the theological significance, without references to the textual problem. Simone Turco, On Pauline Quotation Modes 95 straightforward, succinct and substantial enough both to be completed before the writer’s death and to be quickly interiorized by a Christian recipient acquainted with the holy writings as well as with his mentor’s ability to synthesize on doctrine and divinity.8 The problem of this quotation was taken into consideration and broadly commented on by many – especially Protestant – exegetes and commentators,9 but the study of it in the economy of the work, not only from a religious point of view, has seldom, if ever, been carried out to a minimally satisfactory degree. This little cameo can well be seen as one of the letter’s foci, as a sort of melting pot shedding light on the work’s manner, time, and environment of composition. It might be a good starting point to reassess Pauline scholarship, especially as concerns the Pastoral Epistles, in two different ways: 1) to highlight a quotation and reasoning pattern that might hide in other works attributed to the same author and – by an unbiased analysis – it can thus serve as a touchstone, albeit minimal, to evaluate other dubious attributions; 2) to provide a key to understanding even better the cultural humus in which the epistle was written.10 Therefore, the epistle should also be considered an achievement in which both the attitudes of the writer and his need to condensate deep and urgent Christian-life and theological messages are revealed in the forging of a literally ‘unmatchable’ but ‘sensically’ genuine quotation whose 8 See P. H. Towner, The Letters to Timothy and Titus, cit., pp. 10-30. 9 See A. W. Meyer – J. E. Huther – G. Lünemann, Critical and Exegetical HandBook to the Epistles to Timothy and Titus and to the Epistle to the Hebrews, with a Preface and Supplementary Notes to the American Edition by T. Dwight, New York, Funk & Wagnalls, 1885, pp. 236-237 and pp. 243-245. On the issue of Paul’s quotation modes, see A. H. Wakefield, Where to Live. The Hermeneutical Significance of Paul’s Citations from Scripture in “Galatians”, 3, 1-14, Leiden – Boston, Brill, 2003, pp. 1149. Early criticism of the subject was carried out by J. Gill, Exposition of the Old and New Testaments, Paris (Ark.), the Baptist Standard Bearer, 1989 [1st ed. 1810], vol. IX, pp. 320 ff. 10 See C. B. Puskas – M. Reasoner, The Letters of Paul: An Introduction, Collegeville, Liturgical Press, pp. 227-240.