Most of us are acquainted with writings purported to be written by someone other than the true author. Examples of these are forged checks, plagiarized term papers or dissertations, diaries of the famous, ghost writing, books written by professors’ assistants, pen names, business memos written by secretaries ‘over my signature’, letters to the editor as a transparency device, etc. Unfortunately, some of these are designed to fool the reader while others are acceptable methods of documentary efficiency, or clever literary devices to make a point. When we speak of pseudonymous biblical writings, we do not instantly mean they are forgeries. Indeed, if any of them are forgeries, they do not deserve our attention. The question is whether a pseudonymous writing had any intent to deceive. We believe they do not.
1. Authorship: When we speak of authorship, we refer to the actual person who penned a piece of writing. So when we read the Letter to the Romans, we are certain that Paul was the author even if he asked a scribe to write it on his behalf, just as we are sure that Paul also authored the Letter to the Galatians although this time, he write the letter by his own hand. In either case, Paul is known as the author of both letters.
2. Attribution: A common and accepted practice called attribution has existed within the biblical tradition for centuries. An author writes in the name of, and attributes his material a revered figure of the past. Examples of attribution include the Pentateuch to Moses, the Psalms to David and the Wisdom books to Solomon. During the Hellenistic times of the first Christian century, it was accepted practice to write in the name of famous philosophers of the past, including almost all the great figures of Greek and Roman intellectual history. The early church continued this practice. Many letters were composed and published in the name of Bishop Ignatius after the death by disciples who wanted to extend and spread his teachings.
3. Authenticity: But do the attributed letters of Ignatius make them authentic? Today, modern scholarship can readily distinguish ‘authentic’ from ‘inauthentic’ letters of Plato and Ignatius. But here, the word authentic does not refer to the contents as fake but rather to the attribution of authorship as untrue. What is then untrue is the ostensible identity of the author. But the content is not considered untrue or fake. In other words, an inauthentic attributed authorship does not render a text a forgery.
4. Forgery: Scholars such as Bart Ehrman may be too quick to claim that uncertain authorship points to forgery. In fact, any disputed authorship means simply that – it could be disputed either way. Paul may well have written the final form of Ephesians that we have inherited, or it may be a later edition written by someone else. This tells us nothing about whether it was a forgery or simply a non-Pauline source. It may be a pseudonymous writing, where the author chose not to reveal his or her identity.
5. Pseudonymity: A pseudonymous writing simply means that the writer did not wish to be named and left a false identity. There may be a variety of reasons why. Examples of this include Samuel Clemens who wrote as Mark Twain and Mary Ann Evans who wrote under the name George Elliot. Among biblical writings, it is often because the writer does not wish to draw attention away from the authority of the texts he has been privileged to convey.
6. Disputed authorship of pseudonymous writing in the NT: Of the 22 NT letters, only eight are undisputed as to their authorship: They are, in order of publication: Galatians,1 Thessalonians, Romans, 1, 2 Corinthians, Philippians, Philemon, and Revelation.
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