Literary Devices in 1-2 Thessalonians
Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
Setting
Paul wrote his earliest surviving letter around 50 or 51 CE. Though he was probably actually sitting in Corinth when he wrote it all down, the letter is addressed to the Christians in Thessalonica...
Genre
The First and Second Epistles to the Thessalonians are exactly what they say they are: epistles. That's just a fancy word meaning letters. So essentially, we're sorting through some really old mail...
What's Up With the Title?
The authors of New Testament books didn't title their works. Maybe they thought that was a little too fancy. Later generations of Christians, who liked fancy names, needed something to help them te...
Trivia
June 28th, 2008 - June 29th, 2009 was declared by the Catholic Church to be "The Year of Paul." You know you're a pretty big deal when people have to set aside a whole year to celebrate your awesom...
Sex Drugs And Violence Rating
First and Second Thessalonians are pretty tame. They're light on violence—even though Paul keeps mentioning the wrath of God pouring down on non-believers, he's pretty vague about the details. An...
Allusions
The Masque of Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe: In this creepy story, the Red Death comes to main character's decadent party "like a thief in the night." Poe is quoting 1 Thessalonians 5:4 he...