To quote the great theologian Dr. Seuss:
Thing 1: have we adequately thought through the fact that, even under the current consensus (deceptive pseudonymity a generation or more after Paul's death), the PE were
received by the original audience as genuinely Pauline?
Whatever the case with authorship--and I don't buy the standard arguments--when we posit some kind of deceptive pseudonymity, we are a. acting as resistant readers, and b. marginalizing or ignoring the way the letters were heard by the original audience(s).
Thing 2: when the PE mention houses or families (e.g., OIKOS in Titus 1.11, "misleading whole
families", what is the possibility that this is a reference to HOUSE CHURCHES (a home-based congregation within the network of house churches) rather than a nuclear or extended family, whatever constituted such in that day and culture?
Posted by Perry L. Stepp