Table Of ContentAncient Letters and
the New Testament
Ancient Letters and
the New Testament
A Guide to Context and Exegesis
Hans-Josef Klauck
With the collaboration of Daniel P. Bailey
Baylor University Press
Waco, Texas
English Translation © 2006 by Baylor University Press
Waco, Texas 76798
All Rights Reserved.No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored
in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, elec-
tronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the
prior permission in writing of Baylor University Press.
Translated from Die antike Briefliteratur und das Neue Testament: Ein Lehr-
und Arbeitsbuch /Hans-Josef Klauck © 1998 Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh,
Paderborn, Germany, with revisions and additions for the English edition.
Translated and edited by Daniel P. Bailey.
Book Design:Diane Smith
Cover Design:Pamela Poll
Cover Image:“Letter from Apion” from an Egyptian soldier in the Roman
navy to his father.Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany. Photo
Credit: Bildarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz/ArtResource, NY
Back Cover Image:Codex Sinaiticus. Used by permission of the British
Library (Add. 43725 f. 323).
Figure 1: “The Manufacture of Papyrus” from Der Neue Pauly,vol. 9
(2000). Used by permsission.
Figure 2: E. G. Turner, The Typology of the Early Codex(Philadelphia:
University of Pennsylvania Press, 1977) 45. Reprinted by permission of
the University of Pennsylvania Press.
Libraryof Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Klauck, Hans-Josef.
[Antike Briefliteratur und das Neue Testament. English]
Ancient letters and the New Testament : a guide to context and exegesis /
Hans-Josef Klauck with the collaboration of Daniel P.Bailey.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
ISBN-13: 978-1-932792-40-9 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Bible. N.T.Epistles--Language, style--Textbooks. 2. Classical letters--
Historyand criticism--Textbooks. 3. Letter writing, Classical--Textbooks.
I. Bailey,Daniel P.II. Title.
BS2635.6.L3K5313 2006
227'.06--dc22
2006020603
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper with a
minimum of 30% pcw recycled content.
Contents
Preface vii
Abbreviations ix
General Bibliographies xix
List of Bibliographies xxix
List of Exercises xxxiii
Introduction 1
1 Foundations—Two Letters of Apion and Two Letters
of the “Elder” 9
2 Practical Realities—Paper and Postal System 43
3 Nonliterary and Diplomatic Correspondence 67
4 Poetry and Philosophy—Literary Letters 103
5 Epistolary Theory and Rhetoric 183
6 Letters in Early Judaism 229
7 New Testament Letters I: Overview 299
8 New Testament Letters II: Selected Texts 355
Epilogue 435
Answer Key 445
Index of Ancient Sources 471
Index of Authors 481
Index of Subjects 495
v
Preface
“I think I should understand that better,” Alice said very politely, “if I
had it written down: but I can’t quite follow it as you say it.”
–Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland,chap. 9
Picking up on an incomplete ancient definition that requires some
supplementation, we have grown accustomed to regarding a letter
as “half of a dialogue” or as a continuation of a conversation by
other means. Recently we have also learned to understand the let-
ter as a speech or sermon, which has been put down in writing
only of necessity under the pressure of circumstances. But does the
inalienable writtenness of a letter not also have its positive side?
The same written form that forces the author to more intense
reflection also provides the addressee with opportunities for
unhurried reading and interpretive rereading. Just as in Alice’s
experience, some things that pass us by when we only hear them
become easier to understand when we have them before our eyes
in writing.
Not only in their main theme but also in their genesis, the fol-
lowing reflections are inextricably bound up in the dialectical rela-
tionship of hearing and reading, lecturing, conversing, writing
and—hopefully—being read. They have grown out of courses and
seminars designed to provide an introduction to the New
Testament letters and their ancient literaryenvironment. I can only
hope that some spark of the excitement that was not infrequently
experienced by those who worked together with me on these mate-
rials also comes across to the reader.
vii
viii Preface
The ancient letter-writing handbooks acknowledged among
others the epistolary type known as the letter of thanks, and an
expression of thanks is one of the stock formulas of the papyrus
letters and the letters of Paul; it is therefore all the more fitting at
the beginning of a book about letters. This is the English edition
of a book that appeared 1998 in German under the titleDie antike
Briefliteratur und das Neue Testament: Ein Lehr- und Arbeitsbuch. It
is not a simple translation, but the text of the German edition has
been thoroughly revised, updated, and also enlarged. For this I am
especially grateful to three persons. Carey C. Newman of Baylor
University Press was very enthusiastic about this project from the
very beginning and has been instrumental in the realization of this
English edition. My research assistant Trevor W. Thompson has
transformed and updated the bibliographies. Daniel P. Bailey has
done much more than just translating and editing the German
text. He has also added explanatory notes on philological and
other subjects to the text and the footnotes (which I have
approved), and through his careful questioning he has forced me
to rethink quite a few points and to improve my argument. It is to
be hoped that this makes the book not only better, but especially
also more user-friendly for the English-speaking student. To all
three of them I extend a deeply felt word of thanks.
Hans-Josef Klauck
The University of Chicago
Divinity School
