Monday, April 29, 2019

Hebrews, Interpretation, and Preaching

The Center for Pastor Theologians has done a podcast with Amy Peeler and Gerald Hiestand, entitled "Hebrews, Interpretation, and Preaching." Part 1 is now posted.


New Book Available on Hebrews

Robert Rayburn has informed me that his book, a revised version of his dissertation, has now been published:


Rayburn, Robert. “Yesterday, Today, and Forever”: The Narrative World of Ψ 94 (Ps 95) as a Hermeneutical Key to Hebrews. Berlin: Peter Lang, 2019.

Abstract from the website:
"Hebrews is a book of riddles. Recent scholarship has arrived at an impasse over difficulties and apparent contradictions within the argument. A new look at Hebrews is needed. This book examines the use of Psalm 95 in Hebrews. The psalm recalls a narrative world and renews an exhortation that reoccurs throughout Israel’s history. Hebrews takes up this summons and the story behind it (Heb 3-4, 10-12) to urge its audience to be faithful. This exhortation unites God’s people past and present (Heb 1, 13). The results of this study are applied to the new covenant (Heb 8) and reveal that a reexamination of common assumptions about Hebrews are necessary. A review of the history of interpretation shows that while assumptions about Hebrews have an early beginning, they have not gone unchallenged."

Gäbel Reviews Church, Hebrews and the Temple

Georg Gäbel reviews Philip Church, Hebrews and the Temple: Attitudes to the Temple in Second Temple Judaism and in Hebrews. It is on Academia.edu, so I don't know if it is open access to everyone.


Tuesday, April 23, 2019

The Dynamic Absence of Jesus in Hebrews

The newest article on Hebrews:

Bockmuehl, Markus. “The Dynamic Absence of Jesus in Hebrews.” Journal of Theological Studies 70.1 (2018): 141–62.

Abstract:
"How does Hebrews negotiate the whereabouts of the risen Jesus, on the dialectical spectrum between physical and indeed metaphysical absence on the one hand, and affirmations of a continuing or intermittent presence on the other? More than perhaps any other New Testament writing, Hebrews concentrates on Jesus’s distance from the world of earthly Christian life and discipleship. And yet the author’s ‘word of encouragement’ (13:22) evidently serves his recipients’ situation more urgently through its emphasis on the Son’s heavenly high priesthood rather than on his immediate presence. The presence of Jesus is here most clearly articulated in relation to his incarnation in the past: unlike elsewhere in the New Testament, no obvious attempt is made to sublimate or compensate for the absence of Jesus by sacramental, mystical, or pneumatological means. Nevertheless, even the pastness of the incarnation remains a powerful and abiding ingredient both in Christ’s ongoing priestly work and in the expectation of his coming. As a result, Jesus’ seeming remoteness in Hebrews remains in important respects compatible with his continuing accessibility and closeness to pilgrim believers."

Saturday, April 13, 2019

Review of Muted Voices in the NT

RBL has a new review:

Hockey, Katharine M., Madison N. Pierce and Francis Watson, eds., Muted Voices of the New Testament: Readings in the Catholic Epistles and Hebrews.