I just received this one last week after pre-ordering it well over a year ago:
Craig A. Smith. Timothy's Task, Paul's Prospect: A New Reading of 2 Timothy. Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press. 2006.
Overall, it looks good. Smith gets into epistolary form criticism to examine the "charge" 2Ti 4.1-8:
4 1 I solemnly urge in the presence of God and Christ Jesus, the one who will judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His Kingdom. 2 Preach the word, be persistent in season and out of season, correct, rebuke, encourage, with complete patience and instruction. 3 For there will be a time when they will not put up with sound doctrine but according to their own desires they themselves will accumulate a great many teachers to tickle their ears 4 and indeed they will turn their ears away from the truth, and turn aside toward myths. 5 But you be self-controlled in all things, suffering misfortune, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. 6 For I am already poured out as a drink offering, and the season of my departure is imminent.
7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Henceforth the crown of righteousness is reserved for me, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day, and not only me but all those who have loved His appearing.
That's from my own translation of Second Timothy. Here's the blurb from Sheffield Phoenix Press:
In this challenging book, Craig Smith propounds the novel thesis that the famous lines in 2 Timothy 4 where 'Paul' announces that the time of his departure has come have been misunderstood. This is no farewell speech, Smith avers, and Paul is not intending to pass on the baton to his younger colleague, Timothy.
Deploying epistolary analysis and rhetorical criticism, Smith shows that these verses (4:1-8) do not have the literary structure or the vocabulary of a testament or a farewell; rather, they are a 'charge', an authoritative command, comprised of five specific formal elements. This charge form is found also in the exorcism command and in some magical texts, Christian and non-Christian.
From this perspective, Paul's being poured out as a libation is his experience of preaching to the Gentiles at his first trial, his 'departure' is the imminent release from prison that he is expecting, the fight he has fought and the race he has finished are his trial that he has withstood. Far from appointing Timothy as his successor, he is contemplating a continued companionship and collegiality as they continue their ministry together.