Review article

Sources and traditions in ephesians

Tomislav Zečević ; Catholic Faculty of Theology in Zagreb

Abstract

This article attempts to underline the importance of discovering and recovering the underlying traditional material in the
Letter to the Ephesians. The first part of this study provides necessary information and issues concerning the letter, the author and the addressees. Although we cannot be completely certain, the internal evidence from the letter itself indicates that Ephesians is written by one Paul’s disciple from Asia Minor, a Jewish-Christian from larger Ephesus area. For the same reason, we believe that this letter does not address exclusively the community within the city of Ephesus, but rather it includes other Christian communities from the same Ephesus surroundings that would have been familiar to the author. Even the date and the place of composition is hard to determine, but the peaceful tone of the letter, developed Christian liturgical material and closeness to Colossians (written around AD 80) in vocabulary and in theology, suggest a later date towards the last decades of the 1st century, possibly around AD 85-90. The place of composition could be the city of Ephesus, because this is the administrative center and center of Pauline missions in Asia Minor that covers a large area. We are dealing with a predominately Gentile Christian community (communities), whose members have been recently converted. The second part of the article addresses very briefly the style and the genre of the letter, which combines epideictic and deliberative rhetoric. This part aims to provide the guidelines for the most important issue of this article, respectively the sources and traditions. The third part finally takes on various proposals on sources and traditions found in Ephesians, including a possible pre-Gnostic influence on the letter. This procedure enables us to understand better the context of the letter and the letter itself. According to their origin, these traditions can be divided in three main groups: Jewish, Christian and Gentile traditions. The purpose of this study is not just to give general information on sources and traditions but to arouse scholarly discussion and a more profound investigation of this important issue in the Croatian biblical and liturgical milieu. Indeed, the letter’s important evidence regarding the early Church’s liturgy is essential for the history of liturgy.

Keywords

the Letter to the Ephesians; the author; the addressees; style; genre; sources; traditions; liturgy

Hrčak ID:

323763

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/323763

Publication date:

16.12.2024.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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