Ancient Letters and the New Testament
A Guide to Context and Exegesis

This volume places the New Testament letters squarely in the middle of all the important letter corpora of antiquity. Chapters cover the basic letter formula, papyrus and postal delivery, non-literary and diplomatic correspondence, Greek and Latin literary letters, epistolary theory, letters in early Judaism, and all the letters of the New Testament. Part I of each chapter surveys each corpus, followed by detailed exegetical examples in Part II. Comprehensive bibliographies and 54 exercises with answers suit this guide to student and scholar alike.

Preface


Abbreviations


General Bibliographies


List of Bibliographies


List of Exercises

Inroduction

1. Foundations—Two Letters of Apion and Two Letters

of the “Elder"


2. Practical Realities—Paper and Postal System


3. Nonliterary and Diplomatic Correspondence


4. Poetry and Philosophy—Literary Letters


5. Epistolary Theory and Rhetoric


6. Letters in Early Judaism


7. New Testament Letters I: Overview


8. New Testament Letters II: Selected Texts

Epilogue

Answer Key


Index of Ancient Sources


Index of Modern Authors


Index of Subjects