Introduction

In this book we shall examine the situations underlying the Thessalonian correspondence with a view to determining points of continuity and discontinuity and whether a plausible course of development between these situations can or cannot be educed. Our special concern is the eschatological problems assumed by these letters.

The necessity of such an analysis comes into relief when we consider the critical problems relating to 2 Thessalonians that have repeatedly surfaced in the literature of the last two hundred years, and the breakdown of the scholarly consensus regarding the nature of the problems addressed in 1 and 2 Thessalonians. We shall examine each of these in turn.

The need for the study

Four critical problems concerning 2 Thessalonians

There are essentially four primary problems concerning 2 Thessalonians which have given rise to hypotheses of pseudonymity (and a plethora of other theories for relating 2 Thessalonians to 1 Thessalonians): (1) the unprecedentedly extensive literary parallels between 2 and 1 Thessalonians; (2) the perceived contradiction between the eschatology of the second letter and the first, specifically between premonitory signs in 2 Thessalonians and imminence/suddenness in 1 Thessalonians; (3) the difficulty of interpreting 2 Thess. 2:2 and 3:17; (4) the difference in tone between 2 and 1 Thessalonians, as suggested by the addition of ὀϕείλομεν to the expressions of thanks in 2 Thess. 1:3 and 2:13, together with 2 Thessalonians' lack of personal remarks like those of 1 Thess. 2:1–3:10, and its perceived greater stress on authority.