Authorship of the Catholic Epistles : A Critical Assessment of Methods, Evidence, and Assumptions

This volume breathes new life into the debate surrounding the authorship of the Catholic Epistles — commonly attributed to the brothers of Jesus and some of his closest disciples — through a focus on the epistemology of authorship. Rather than simply asking questions about who wrote the epistles, those who contribute to this book explore how interpreters arrive at their conclusions about authenticity and pseudonymity. These essays represent a critical assessment of the methods, evidence, and assumptions that inform modern dialogues on authorship in the letters of James, 1-2 Peter, and Jude.

After an analysis by Travis B. Williams, Darian R. Lockett and Mariam Kamell Kovalishyn on recent critical scholarship on the epistles, arguing that fundamental questions about language, literacy, memory, and pseudonymity have been significantly neglected by interpreters, the collection explores those queries. Beginning with the authors'' education, literacy and proficiency in various languages, the contributors then assess their role as eye witnesses to the events of the Gospels and the aspects of individual or collective memory. Moving on to an extensive analysis of the identity and authenticity of the authors, this collection finally concludes by considering whether these essays move readers closer toward a solution of the authorship question.