Two New Articles on Hebrews

Two new articles on Hebrews have come out this month:

Michael Kibbe. "Is It Finished? When Did It Start? Hebrews, Priesthood, and Atonement in Biblical, Systematic, and and Historical Perspective." Journal of Theological Studies 65.1 (2014): 25–61.

Abstract:
"Current atonement debates usually revolve around models and metaphors (Christus victor, penal substitution, etc.). However, another lesser-known debate regarding the sequence of the atonement has raged at least since Faustus Socinus argued in 1578 that Christ accomplished atonement not on the cross, but via his post-resurrection appearance and self-offering in heaven. This debate, moreover, has received new life in the recent work of David Moffitt (Atonement and the Logic of the Resurrection in the Epistle to the Hebrews; 2011), who adheres closely to the Socinian view. For those seeking to close the gap between biblical and theological scholarship, both Socinus’s anti-Trinitarian approach and Moffitt’s narrowly historical approach remain problematic even though they present strong arguments for their interpretation of particular texts. What is needed, then, is an appraisal of the Socinian perspective that takes their exegesis seriously but does so in conversation with the broader New Testament witness and its theological implications. This essay puts both exegetical and theological questions on display; it does not attempt to answer all of these questions, but rather suggests a number of ways in which the next phase of the discussion ought to engage them."

In the same issue, Nicholas Moore has a review of Jared Calaway, The Sabbath and the Sanctuary: Access to God in the Letter to the Hebrews and Its Priestly Context. Journal of Theological Studies 65.1 (2014): 236–239.

Nicholas Moore also has an article of his own: "Jesus as "The One Who Entered His Rest': The Christological Reading of Hebrews 4.10." Journal for the Study of the New Testament 36.3 (2014): 383–400.

Abstract:
"This article argues that in Heb. 4.10 the substantival aorist participle ὁ εἰσελθών should be translated ‘the one who entered’, and that its implied subject is Christ; it further suggests that, understood this way, this verse coheres with Hebrews’ strong emphasis on the completed nature of Christ’s salvic work, expressed in particular with the image of Christ’s enthronement or session using Ps. 110.1. The article thus challenges the view that the rest motif in Heb. 3–4 is purely a ‘sermon illustration’ with no connection to the strong Christology pervading the rest of the letter; additionally it underscores the creativity with which the author expresses the sufciency of the Christ event, and strengthens the proximity of the motifs of entering rest and entering the heavenly sanctuary."