Hebrews Carnival June 2011

Richard Fellows presents New evidence that Hebrews was written by a man.

Ken Schenck reflects on Hebrews 12:27.

New & Forthcoming Books Page Updated

I have updated the New & Forthcoming Books page with updated links and expected publication dates.  There was some discrepancy between publication dates between a couple of sites, so I have gone with Dove Bookseller's dates.  Forthcoming books are arranged now according to expected publication dates.  Some new books have been added to the list.  So far, 2011 has been rather slow about new books on Hebrews, but if the publication dates hold, we should see several new titles by the end of the year.  Of course, if you know of some other works that I am unaware of, please let me know.

Hebrews in the Lectio Continua Series

Anthony Billington announced on his blog that there is a new commentary series, Lectio Continua.  So, naturally I was interested to see who was doing the Hebrews commentary (See list of contributors).  His name is David B. McWilliams. 

Here is the bio on him:

Rev. Dr. David B. McWilliams: Dr. McWilliams is Senior Minister of Covenant Presbyterian Church where he has served for twenty two years. A former Associate Professor of Systematic Theology on the faculty of Westminster Theological Seminary (Dallas) he continues to teach Systematic Theology at Redeemer Theological Seminary. He is devoted to Christ centered, expository preaching. The author of numerous articles he has also published, Galatians, A Mentor Commentary.

History of Research Page Updated

As I am plowing through the rest of the secondary literature on Hebrews, whenever I come across anything on the history of interpretation, I am adding them to the History of Research page.  Several new titles have been added recently.  I will continue to update this page through the rest of the summer.

Jared Calaway's Dissertation Available Online

Jared Calaway has announced that his dissertation is available online:

"Heavenly Sabbath, Heavenly Sanctuary: The Transformation of Priestly Sacred Space and Sacred Time in the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice and the Epistle to the Hebrews." Ph.D. diss., Columbia University, 2010.

You can go to his blog to read the abstract.

Encomiastic Topics of Syncrisis in the Structure and Argument of Hebrews

The newest New Testament Studies issue is out and it includes a new article on Hebrews from a couple of Baylor grads:

Michael W. Martin and Jason A. Whitlark. "The Encomiastic Topics of Syncrisis as the Key to the Structure and Argument of Hebrews." New Testament Studies 57.3 (2011): 415-439.

Abstract:

"This study examines comparison in Hebrews in the light of ancient rhetorical theory of syncrisis, identifying five epideictic syncrises: the messengers/angels vs. Jesus (1.1-14; 2.5-18), Moses vs. Jesus (3.1-6), the Aaronic high priests vs. Jesus (5.1-10), the Levitical priestly ministry vs. the Melchizedekian priestly ministry (7.1-10.18), and Mt. Sinai vs. Mt. Zion (12.18-24). The study shows that these comparisons collectively function as a single syncritical project that argues for the superiority of the new covenant to the old, and that the project, like most of the individual comparisons, is arranged topically in accordance with ancient rhetorical theory."

My understanding from Jason is that this article is only part one.