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Archive for the ‘Hebrews’ Category


Hebrews’ Cosmogonic Presuppositions

In Benjamin Rojas Yauri, cosmology, Hebrews, Jewish Backgrounds, Judson D. Greene, Wipf and Stock on January 23, 2023 at 6:03 pm
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2023.01.02 | Benjamin Rojas Yauri. Hebrews’ Cosmogonic Presuppositions: Its First-Century Philosophical Context. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2022.

Review by Judson D. Greene, Cambridge University.

In this revised version of his PhD dissertation at Stellenbosch University under the supervision of Jeremy Punt, Benjamin Rojas Yauri endeavors to answer the question, “What are the relationships between Hebrews’ cosmogonic presuppositions and its first-century philosophical context?” (7). “Cosmogonic” means related to the origin of the universe (p. 1, n. 4) and a “presupposition” is “a thought tacitly assumed beforehand at the beginning of a line of argument,” which he states means the same thing as “beliefs” (p. 234, n. 2). In answer to his question, Rojas Yauri advances the thesis, “there is no relationship of dependence in presuppositions but only in the usage of some general vocabulary” (p. 266).

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Divine Discourse in the Epistle to the Hebrews

In Cambridge University Press, Hebrews, Jonathan Rowlands, Madison N. Pierce, New Testament on February 13, 2022 at 9:48 pm

2022.02.01 | Madison N. Pierce. Divine Discourse in the Epistle to the Hebrews: The Recontextualization of Spoken Quotations of Scripture. Society of New Testament Studies Monograph Series 178; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020. ISBN: 9781108495417.

Review by Jonathan Rowlands, St. Mellitus College.

In this monograph, Pierce argues that “the author of Hebrews uses divine discourse—the speech of God—in Hebrews to develop his characterization of God and by extension his broader argument … [such that] these speeches are crucial to his argumentation.” (2). This argument is made primarily with reference to the author’s use of ‘prosopological exegesis’ of Jewish Scriptures. This technique “interprets texts by assigning ‘faces’ (πρόσωπα), or characters, to ambiguous or unspecified personal (or personified) entities represented in the text in question … for clarity of understanding” (4). Following a discussion about prosopological exegesis in antiquity (6-20) and techniques for identifying its use (20-22), Pierce introduces the particular use of this technique in Hebrews, culminating in an overview of previous treatments of divine speech in Hebrews (28-33).

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Deciphering the Worlds of Hebrews

In Gabriella GELARDINI, Hebrews, Jewish Backgrounds, Jewish liturgy, Jonathon Lookadoo on December 29, 2021 at 3:49 pm
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2021.12.19 | Gabriella Gelardini. Deciphering the Worlds of Hebrews: Collected Essays. Supplements to Novum Testamentum 184. Leiden: Brill, 2021. pp. xii + 375. ISBN: 9789004460164.

Review by Jonathon Lookadoo, Presbyterian University and Theological Seminary, Seoul, Republic of Korea.

The volume under review gathers fifteen essays from Gabriella Gelardini that were published from 2005–2019. Gelardini is Professor of Christianity, Religion, Worldview, and Ethics at Nord University and has previously published both a monograph and two edited volumes on Hebrews. The book is divided into three parts with each part comprised of five chapters. Fourteen of the essays in this volume were published previously, but many of them were published in disparate edited volumes. Twelve chapters are written in English, while three of the essays appear in German. The collection of these papers in one volume is thus warmly to be welcomed both for the ease with which the essays can now be read and for the way in which Gelardini’s research on Hebrews over a fifteen-year period can be explored.

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Jesus’ Death and Heavenly Offering

In atonement, Cambridge University Press, Hebrews, Jonathan Rowlands, R. B. Jamieson, sacrifice on November 23, 2021 at 9:30 am

2021.11.17 | R.B. Jamieson. Jesus’ Death and Heavenly Offering. Society of New Testament Studies Monograph Series 172; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN: 978-1-108-47443-6.

Review by Jonathan Rowlands, St. Mellitus College.

In this monograph, Jamieson addresses two questions concerning the soteriology of Hebrews. First, when and where does Jesus offer himself? Second, what role does Jesus’ death play? His thesis is immediately clear: “Jesus’ death is not when and where he offers himself, but it is what he offers” (p. 1). In the introduction, by means of outlining his own contribution to the issue, Jamieson offers a helpful fivefold taxonomy for scholarship on the soteriology of Hebrews that anybody approaching the issue for the first time would do well to consult in the first instance (also outlined in a 2017 article in Currents in Biblical Research 15.3).

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Son, Sacrifice, and Great Shepherd

In David M. Moffitt, Eric F. MASON, Hebrews, Madison N. Pierce, Mohr Siebeck, New Testament on February 5, 2021 at 3:00 pm

2021.2.5 | David M. Moffitt and Eric F. Mason, eds. Son, Sacrifice, and Great Shepherd: Studies on the Epistle to the Hebrews.WUNT II 510. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2020. ISBN 978-3-16-159190-7.

Review by Madison N. Pierce, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.

Reviews of edited collections are often marred by the cliché that “the quality of the essays varies.” This is of course a truism, but usually, it is a subtle way for a reviewer to signal that some essays are rather poor—detracting from an otherwise reasonably good collection. Son, Sacrifice, and Great Shepherd is an excellent collection with only very good and great essays. Moffitt and Mason have assembled an impressive team of contributors—chosen from among presenters at the International Meeting for SBL from 2011–2013—and each has made a useful contribution to the study of Hebrews.

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Hebrews in Contexts

In Brill, Bryan Dyer, Gabriella GELARDINI, Graeco-Roman Backgrounds, Harold W. ATTRIDGE, Hebrews, Jewish Backgrounds, New Testament, review, Spatial Theory on September 9, 2017 at 6:45 pm

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2017.09.19 | Gabriella Gelardini and Harold W. Attridge, eds. Hebrews in Contexts. Leiden: Brill, 2016. ISBN: 9789004311688.

Reviewed by Bryan Dyer, Baker Academic.

This collection of essays, edited by Gabriella Gelardini and Harold Attridge, brings together many of the fine papers that have been presented in the Hebrews section at the SBL annual meetings from 2005 to 2013. In their introduction, the editors place the volume within the increased attention that the epistle has received during those years. More specifically, this volume (and the Hebrews section over the years) attempts to place Hebrews within a variety of “contexts”—a term referring to historical context (Jewish, Greco-Roman) as well as hermeneutical approaches (spatial theory, canonical reading, history of interpretation). One key feature is that the editors (also the SBL co-chairs) sought out non-Hebrews scholars who are experts in fields with baring on Hebrews to bring their specialty to the text. As a result, the volume presents some fresh readings and approaches to the text that will be new to even seasoned Hebrews scholars. Read the rest of this entry »


You Are My Son

In Bloomsbury, Christology, Familial Metaphors, Hebrews, Shawn J. Wilhite on May 5, 2016 at 2:00 pm

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2016.05.07 | Amy L. B. Peeler. You Are My Son: The Family of God in the Epistle to the Hebrews. LNTS 486. London: T&T Clark, 2014. Pp. xiv + 224. ISBN: 978-0-56765-418-2.

Review by Shawn J. Wilhite, California Baptist University.

Many thanks to T&T Clark for providing a review copy.

The fact that familial motifs have remained relatively underdeveloped presents a bit of an anomaly. Given the data of filial language within the first major section of Hebrews — “you are my son” (Heb 1:5), “I shall be to him a father” (Heb 1:5), “God…has spoken to us by his son” (Heb 1:2), “but of the son he says” (Heb 1:8), “…bringing many sons to glory” (Heb 2:10), “not ashamed to call them brothers” (Heb 2:11) — Amy Peeler’s volume appears during a time when similar monographs have yet to enter Hebrews scholarship. In You Are My Son, Peeler attempts to fill such wanting lacuna of filial language in her revised dissertation (Princeton Theological Seminary, 2011). Peeler offers Hebrews scholars a helpful and needed work for fatherhood, sonship, and familial language within Hebrews. Read the rest of this entry »


Hebrews: A Different Priest and a New Commentary

In Albert VANHOYE, commentary, Convivium, Hebrews, New Testament, Nicholas J. Moore, Paulist Press, review article on February 10, 2016 at 12:00 am

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2016.02.03 |  Albert Vanhoye. A Different Priest: The Epistle to the Hebrews. Translated by Leo Arnold. Rhetorica Semitica. Miami, FL: Convivium, 2011. Paperback. 450 pp. ISBN 9781934996201.

Albert Vanhoye. The Letter to the Hebrews: A New Commentary. Translated by Leo Arnold. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist, 2015. Paperback. V + 266 pp. ISBN 9780809149285.

Review article by Nicholas Moore.

Many thanks to Convivium Press and Paulist Press for providing review copies.

1. Introduction

“He who walks with the wise grows wise.” These two books, freshly written and translated, offer to a new audience a distillation of over six decades of reflection, research, and teaching on the Letter to the Hebrews. Albert Vanhoye SJ, a former Rector of the Pontifical Biblical Institute and former President of SNTS who was made cardinal in 2006, is without any doubt one of the most significant French biblical scholars of the twentieth century. Read the rest of this entry »


Joshua Typology in the New Testament

In Hebrews, Joshua, Jude, Mohr Siebeck, New Testament, Nicholas J. Moore, Richard OUNSWORTH on October 3, 2013 at 11:40 am

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2013.09.18 | Richard Ounsworth. Joshua Typology in the New Testament. WUNT II/328. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2012. XI + 214 pp. Paperback. ISBN 978 3 16 151932 1.

Review by Nicholas J. Moore, Keble College, University of Oxford.

Many thanks to Mohr Siebeck for providing a review copy.

‘That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.’ What’s in a name? Well, pace the love-struck Juliet, quite possibly a great deal if your name happens to be identical with that of the Messiah. It is this possibility that Richard Ounsworth seeks to render plausible or even probable with regard to the presence in Hebrews 4.8 of the name Ἰησοῦς. In context this clearly refers to Joshua son of Nun, who brought the Israelites into Canaan but failed to give them (true) rest. Read the rest of this entry »

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Reading the Epistle to the Hebrews

In Eric F. MASON, Hebrews, Kevin B. McCRUDEN, New Testament, Nicholas J. Moore, Society of Biblical Literature on July 16, 2013 at 11:02 am

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2013.07.15 | Eric F. Mason and Kevin B. McCruden, eds. Reading the Epistle to the Hebrews: A Resource for Students. SBL Resources for Biblical Study 66. Atlanta: SBL, 2011. xvi + 354 pp. ISBN: 9781589836082.

Review by Nicholas J. Moore, Keble College, University of Oxford.

Many thanks to SBL for kindly providing us with a review copy.

This volume unites 13 chapters from current specialists on the Letter to the Hebrews, or other fields bearing on particular questions in Hebrews, with the intention of making the current state of research and discourse on the letter in scholarly circles accessible for advanced undergraduates (and a wider audience, including ‘any educated reader studying Hebrews for the first time’ [2]). The work therefore avoids jargon, provides glosses for technical terms, transliterates Greek and Hebrew, and keeps footnotes to a minimum.

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