Liars, Brutes, and Gluttons

Isaiah Allen revisits long-held, conventional interpretations of Titus 1:12 that maintain that the author, in Paul's name, considered Cretans to be crude, vicious, and worthy of rebuke. Using the cognitive linguistics approach of relevance theory, Allen contends that the original first-century audience during Paul's lifetime would have engaged the text quite differently from how many modern interpreters read it. Allen concludes that Paul was not participating in bigotry but instead exposed and rebuked it in his letter to Titus. Allen examines linguistic evidence that reveals an ancient biblical antibigotry message that presages modern sensibilities about ethnic prejudice and racism.