Hebrews Carnival August 2010

For this month's carnival two themes have emerged. First, I will introduce two blogs of fellow Baylor colleagues who had brief posts on Hebrews:

Scott Rushing, a Ph.D. candidate in theology with a specialization in Patristics, has a lectionary reflection on Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16.

Keith Reich, with his newly-minted Ph.D. in New Testament, has a newly-minted blog on the Rhetoric and the NT. He identifies the rhetorical figures in Hebrews 1:1-4.

The other major theme that emerged this month is the issue of authorship of Hebrews:

Derek Ouellette has an Interview with Ruth Hoppin, Author of Priscilla's Letter. Ruth Hoppin also has a guest post on Hebrews 11:32, the controversial passage often used to dismiss the possibility of a female author for the book. You can read my critique of her argument and our subsequent exchange there.

Derek Ouellette also has a review of David L. Allen's book, Lukan Authorship of Hebrews.

Christianbook.com is doing a Read In for Allen's new book:
Part 1: the Lukan Authorship of Hebrews.
Part 2: Whose [sic] Your Author?.
Part 2 Supplemental.
Linguistics and the Lukan Authorship of Hebrews.
Part 2: Linguistics and the Lukan Authorship of Hebrews.
Stenography in Hebrews?
Allen's "Independent" Hypothesis and Lukan Methodology.
Some Reflections

General posts:

Michael Bird considers some Central Themes in Hebrews.

Steven Coxhead proposes that the Perfecting of Jesus as High Priest took place upon the cross.

Alan Knox has a brief post on the translation of Hebrews 10:24.

Dave Spotts has posted a couple of sermons on Hebrews 11:1-16 and Hebrews 13:1-17.

Helps from Hebrews

I have just added the following book to the electronic books listing:

Boatman, Don Earl. Helps from Hebrews: A New Commentary, Workbook, Teaching Manual. 1960.

Boatman was the President of Ozark Bible College in Joplin, Mo.

HT: Joel

New Commentary on Hebrews by David L. Allen

Today I found a surprise package on my doorstep. Broadman & Holman sent me a complimentary review copy of David L. Allen's commentary on Hebrews. I am thrilled! I want to thank Jim Baird from B & H for the review copy.

Currently, I am working my way through about 65 commentaries or so on Hebrews for my dissertation (all lined up in one long row on my tables in my home office), so the arrival of this commentary is quite timely. In due course I will post a thorough review of this commentary. I also plan to post my recommendations on the best commentaries on Hebrews once I have worked my way through them sometime in the future.

I currently teach a Sunday school class at my local church and we are working our way through the historical books of the OT. I have been generally impressed with the quality of the commentaries in the New American Commentary series. They are readable and thorough in their comments, so they are ideal for pastors to use, yet they are scholarly enough that scholars can benefit from them too. In my estimation it is one of the best overall series on the OT there is (and I have been using commentaries from other series like the AB, OTL, WBC, Interpretation, Tyndale etc.), perhaps matched only by the NICOT. Other series may be more thorough in technical matters, but for preparation for teaching and preaching, this series is tops. So, I expect some good things from this commentary.

The book weighs in at 671 pages so it is quite meaty. The 72-page introduction includes topics on the nature of the book, historical circumstances (authorship, recipients, location, date), purpose, theology, use of the OT, and an outline and structure of the book. The author is dean of the School of Theology, professor of preaching, and director of the Center for Biblical Preaching at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, TX. I have heard him speak and he is quite an engaging speaker so I hope his commentary will be equally engaging.

Typology and the Message of Hebrews

The following article is now available online:

Jeffrey R. Sharp. "Typology and the Message of Hebrews." East Asia Journal of Theology 4.2 (1986): 95-103.

HT: Rob Bradshaw