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Written as a farewell address, the second letter to Timothy (2 Tim) assumes a concluding role in Paul’s biography. How does this assertion – false or not – translate from a narrative point of view? Or, to put it another way, what is the role of 2 Tim within the Pauline corpus? This question leads this dissertation. Through the lens of memory approaches, this heuristic study shows that the literary genre and content of the letter build a hermeneutical key for reading and propagating at least the seven undisputed letters (Rom, 1 and 2 Cor, Ga, Ph, 1 Th, Phm) and Colossians as the apostle Paul’s “critical inheritance” (B. Schwartz). Its main originality lies in the specific consideration of 2 Tim as part of a Pauline collection, and not only of the corpus known as the Pastorals (1 and 2 Timothy, Titus). The dissertation is divided in three parts: 1) historical and methodological milestones; 2) a memory analysis of 2 Tim; 3) an investigation of three Pauline “realms of memory” (P. Nora): characters, geographical locations and Paul’s letters.