The Pastoral Epistles

1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus

Anonymous (traditionally attributed to Paul; the near-consensus of critical scholarship regards them as pseudonymous, written by a later member of a Pauline school) · c. AD 100-140 · place of composition unknown (Turkey) · letters

Grouped together as the Pastoral Epistles, 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus instruct church leaders on qualifications for bishops and deacons and warn against false teaching, a level of institutional structure and vocabulary that leads most critical scholars to place them well after Paul's own lifetime. Their own place of composition is unknown, though they are internally addressed to Ephesus and Crete.