Review of A Cloud of Witnesses: The Theology of Hebrews in its Ancient Contexts (ed. R. Bauckham, D. Driver, T. Hart, and N. MacDonald; LNTS 387; London: T&T Clark, 2008), in Review of Biblical Literature (August 22, 2009) (original) (raw)
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The Letter to the Hebrews is one of the most extraordinary texts in the New Testament. This anonymous sermon offers what is perhaps the highest Christology, the most comprehensive soteriology and realized eschatology, the clearest view of the costs and benefits of the Christian life, the deepest immersion in the Old Testament, as well as the most passionate exhortation and refined literary-rhetorical skills in the NT canon. After suffering years of neglect, Hebrews has recently attracted an abundance of critical attention, and keeping abreast of this growing corpus is becoming increasingly difficult. Though representing a welcome development, this rapid growth is leading to the neglect of older critical works, despite their foundational role. Contributing to this neglect is the fact that many of these works are in out-of-print books, discontinued journals, and other hard to find sources. This collection attempts to remedy both situations, rapid growth and regrettable neglect, by selectively gathering into one handy volume some of the very best English language essays on Hebrews from the last sixty years. In this volume of critical readings, edited by Scott D. Mackie, the essays are organized thematically, addressing such topics as theology, Christology, pneumatology, eschatology, authorship, audience, structure, Greco-Roman rhetoric, the OT, Hebrews’ relationship with contemporaneous Judaism, and soteriology. Each section is prefaced by an introduction and summary of the particular theme in Hebrews. At the end of each section is an annotated bibliography to point researchers towards further readings in these key themes.
This paper is a summary of the theology of the Letter to the Hebrews. It was written in 1997 for a course taught by Gordon Fee at Regent College, Vancouver, Canada.
The present volume contains a collection of fourteen essays applying the latest and neglected methods and offering new and innovative insights into the interpretation of the New Testament book To the Hebrews. The excitingly diverse contributions, which stem from an intriguing international group of senior and younger Hebrews, New Testament, and Old Testament scholars, are presented in three parts: Part One focuses on cultic language, concepts, and practice in Hebrews; Part Two on sociology, ethics, and rhetoric in Hebrews; and Part Three on textual-historical, comparative, and intertextual approaches to Hebrews. As the first ever compilation of essays on Hebrews by a range of authors, this volume presents an important contribution to the field of New Testament studies. It will particularly appeal to students, teachers, and scholars interested in a variety of critical perspectives on Hebrews and on the New Testament’s third great theologian next to Paul and John. Moreover, the treatment of hermeneutical, cultic, sociological, and comparative matters in the context of biblical, Greco-Roman, and rabbinic literature will make this collection valuable to an even broader readership.
The Message and Argument of Hebrews
Bible study takes careful reading, observation, ability to follow an author's thinking in a given text. Our purpose with the biblical text before us is to discover not only the author's message and intent but also God's message. God speaks through His inspired human agency. This article provides an approach to any book of the Bible for delineating the author's message, intent, and application. Our purpose is to discover all of these. While this article focuses on the Letter to the Hebrews, its approach can apply to any one of the 66 books of the Bible or any literary work. This article highlights a general approach, thereby not delving into detailed hermeneutical principles. Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.