Ken Schenck has been doing a series on Hebrews, apparently in the process of writing a book:
Its Situation
Strange Sacrificial Teachings
Strange Teachings Today
Jesus, the Definitive Sacrifice 1
Definitive Priest
True Sanctuary with a Superior Sacrifice
So Keep Going
The Big Warning
The Faith Chapter
Jim West has some excerpts of Hebrews 10:25 Among the Exegetes.
Saturday, May 31, 2014
Monday, May 26, 2014
Review of Bateman, Charts on the Book of Hebrews
Herbert W. Bateman IV. Charts on the Book of Hebrews. Kregel Charts of the Bible. Grand Rapids: Kregel Academic, 2012.
First, I want to thank Kregel Academic for a review copy of
this book.
I like the book of Hebrews and I like chart-books, so when
the two are combined, it has to be a winning combination. Herbert Bateman has
provided us with just such a book in the Kregel Charts of the Bible series.
The book is divided into four major parts. Part one deals
with introductory matters such as authorship; destination, recipients, and
dating; genre and structure; and canonicity. Part two is concerned with OT and
Second Temple influences in Hebrews. This section features charts on OT
quotations and allusions, the Jewish cultic system, the high priesthood, and
messianic figures. Part three covers theology in Hebrews and is organized under
the subheadings of Godhead, theological themes, and words of exhortation. Part
four deals with exegetical matters and is divided into interpretive issues,
text critical issues, figures of speech, and important words. Bateman comments
on these charts towards the end of the book on pages 239–253.
In part one, His first chart on authorship lists many of the
proposed authors for Hebrews and the scholar who first proposed it. The chart
is not exhaustive as others could have been added to the chart. He identifies
19 options, but I know of at least 23. The next two charts (2–3) contain
listings of scholars and their various proposals for the authorship of Hebrews.
Charts 4–7 helpfully lay out in turn the pros and cons for the candidacies of
Barnabas, Paul, Luke, and Apollos.
Chart 8 surprisingly only lists five locations for the
possible destination of Hebrews. As many as fifteen different destinations have
been proposed so this chart is by no means exhaustive. Charts 10–12 deal with
the recipients of Hebrews whether or not they were Jewish Christians and the
evidence of the audience’s regeneration.
Chart 13 weighs four pieces of evidence for the dating of
Hebrews: the possibility that they were second generation Christians, the
mention of Timothy, the mention of persecution, and the silence regarding the
destruction of the temple in Jerusalem.
Charts 16–17 consider respectively the evidence for the
genre of Hebrews as a sermonic letter or as letter of exhortation. Chart 19
identifies four options for the structuring of Hebrews: (1) thematic; (2)
rhetorical; (3) chiastic literary; and (4) text-linguistic literary. Charts
20–24 identify representatives for each one of these options. Again, the charts
are not exhaustive. For example, he only features the rhetorical arrangements
of Harold Attridge and Craig Koester. Hence, he omits the important proposals
of Walter Übelacker, Keijo Nissilä, James Thompson, and others. Likewise, he
only highlights the text-linguistic structure of George Guthrie, but omits the
one proposed by Cindy Westfall.
Chart 26 features interesting information regarding the
canonical placement of Hebrews. Chart 27 lists early patristic citations of Hebrews.
Charts 28–29 feature early canon lists which included or omitted Hebrews.
In part two, he begins with a chart (30) identifying 36
quotations from the OT listed according to their appearance in Hebrews. The
following chart (31) arranges them according to canonical books. Identifying a
quotation can be a little tricky and scholars have offered different numbers
for Hebrews. Even more elusive is identifying allusions to the OT. He lists
these in charts 32–33. Surprisingly, he lists only two allusions in Hebrews 11.
However, this chapter certainly contains many more allusions than that. It
raises the question what Bateman considers to be an allusion. He lists OT
figures who are named in Hebrews in chart 34.
Charts 35–38 are dedicated to the references to the
tabernacle and its component parts, while charts 39–40 list references to OT
feasts and the Day of Atonement respectively.
Charts 41–43, 45, 47 include a historical listing of all
high priests from the OT, Persian, Hellenistic, Hasmonean, and Herodian
periods. He includes charts on the Hasmonean (44) and Herodian (46) family
trees.
His remaining charts in this part deal with anointed figures
(48), messianic figures and titles (49–50), Melchizedek (51–52), regal priests
(53–54), and divine beings (55) in the OT and other early Jewish literature.
Again, these charts are probably not comprehensive. For example in chart 51 he
only lists references to Melchizedek in the OT, Dead Sea Scrolls, Hebrews,
Josephus, and Philo. References in other bodies of literature could certainly
be added.
In part three, Bateman begins with a series of charts
outlining the portrait of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit (56–59). Charts 60–64
deal with parallels to the Jewish wisdom tradition. Chart 65 lists titles
ascribed to Jesus and organizes them according to messianic and regal,
non-regal, and divine titles. The following chart (66) lists titles of Jesus
shared with other NT writings.
The next group of charts (67–82) organizes references to
various phrases (e.g., “better than”; “once for all”) and concepts/themes (e.g.,
covenant, perfection, rest, faith) found in Hebrews. The final group of charts
in this section deals with words of exhortations (83), apostasy (84–85), and
the warning passages (85–87). Chart 87
specifically lists six positions on the warning passages in Hebrews and
identifies some of the major proponents of each position.
In part four, which deals with exegetical matters, Bateman
begins with a series of charts comparing the citations in the Hebrew, the LXX,
and Hebrews (88–90). These charts are helpful in getting a side-by-side
comparison of the quotations in these three bodies of literature. These kinds
of charts can be found elsewhere (i.e., Gleason L. Archer and Gregory
Chirichigno, Old Testament Quotations in the New Testament), but
certainly needed to be included in this collection.
In chart 91 Bateman gives examples of Jewish exegesis in
Hebrews. Bateman did his dissertation on the use of Jewish exegesis in Hebrews
1:5–13, so you could say that this is a particular specialty of his. In charts
92–93 he gives a few examples of chiasm in Hebrews. Numerous articles and monographs
have given attention to this feature in Hebrews, so the examples he lists here
are only the tip of the iceberg.
Charts 94–96 helpfully deal with the manuscript evidence for
Hebrews. Chart 97 lists the major text-critical issues (42 of them) in Hebrews.
For each of the conflicted readings he gives the significance and an
explanation of the issues involved.
Charts 98–101 list various figures of speech and literary
devices that are used throughout Hebrews. Chart 102 lists words frequently used
in Hebrews. Chart 103 has an alphabetical listing of Greek words unique to
Hebrews. I am assuming this is in reference to the rest of the NT and not to
the whole body of Greek literature. Chart 104 organizes these hapax legomena
according to their appearance in Hebrews.
Bateman has provided us with many useful charts on the book
of Hebrews. He organizes and distills vast amounts of information in a readily
digestible format. Readers can easily find charts that give an overview of
evidence for a contested issue such as the authorship or dating of the epistle,
or the various views on the warning passages. Many of the charts provide a nice
distillation of background materials that are useful for understanding Hebrews.
The charts are very useful for locating references for various words and
topics. Bateman should also be commended for his creativity in the variety and
types of charts that he provides.
The charts, however, often are not exhaustive. Bateman is heavily
dependent on the major English commentaries for the distillation of his
information (he gives credit to his sources in his explanations at the back of
the book). Hence, many important monographs and articles, not to mention
non-English commentaries, appear to be largely overlooked. Naturally, one can
attribute these omissions to human finitude; one can accomplish only so much
given the limitations in time and space. Nevertheless, the charts are very helpful
and can be used as a starting point for further research in Hebrews. I commend
the book to anyone who is interested in this fascinating early Christian
document.
Sunday, May 4, 2014
First Review of My Book
Well, the first review of my book is in, and it is very favorable. Thanks to Kevin Brown for the review.
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