Description:
"While many have recognized unusual patterns of repetition within the
book of Hebrews, which seem to play a range of important functions
within the text, the consistency of this patterning has not been fully
appreciated and its function has been largely unexamined. This study
investigates the location and function of what we have termed "link
clusters" within Hebrews from the perspective of discourse analysis, to
gain fresh insight into the language, structure, and genre of Hebrews;
into the book's relationship to the Old Testament; and into the book's
authorship and meaning. This work proposes, first, that Hebrews uses
repetition to establish formal connections between words and phrases
marked as significant by their location and context with respect to
other similarly connected words and phrases; second, that link clusters
serve to structure the book of Hebrews by uniting the text into a series
of overlapping, concentric, and coherent units; and, third, that link
clusters also serve an important topical function, clarifying and
amplifying intended meaning as pairs of matching topic sentences that
respectively introduce and conclude each section and subsection of the
discourse by summarizing its content."
