Hebrews at the Annual Meeting of the SBL

Here are the papers on Hebrews that will be delivered at the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature in Atlanta this year:

P21-127
Institute for Biblical Research
11/21/2015
9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Room: A602 (Atrium Level) - Marriott

Ruth Anne Reese, Asbury Theological Seminary
Remembering the Future, Shaping the Past: Memory, Narrative, and Identity (17 min)

Remembering the Future, Shaping the Past: Memory, Narrative, and Identity
Memory plays a key role in helping us know who we are and who we are becoming. As recent research in memory studies in a variety of fields tears down the old picture of memory as a wax tablet, the importance of narrative and the narrative structuring of memory is rising. The stories that we tell impact our understanding of identity and ultimately shape our future—not only who we are but who we will be. In this presentation we will examine the intersection of memory, narrative, and identity by looking at how the book of Hebrews invokes the memory of the future, memory rooted in the Old Testament, to appeal to the audience of Hebrews. 


S21-243
Scripture in Early Judaism and Christianity
11/21/2015
1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: Vinings (Atlanta Conference Level) - Hyatt
Theme: Interpreting Biblical Land Texts

Scott R. Moore, Regis University
Promise and Intertextual Logic: How Hebrews Get from A(braham) to Z(ion) (30 min)

Promise and Intertextual Logic: How Hebrews Get from A(braham) to Z(ion)
The Book of Hebrews both breaches and preserves Jewish tradition as it interprets scripture with scripture, showing how the promise of land to Abraham has been transformed into eschatological rest in Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem. We find in Hebrews some of the same intertextual strategies that scholars such as Daniel Boyarin identify in midrashic exegesis, including the tendency to interpret texts from the Pentateuch by means of juxtaposing them with texts from the Writings and Prophets. The latter texts interpret the former, often in overtly diachronic arguments. This paper focuses on four intertextual expositions in Hebrews that lead from the promise of land to Abraham to the hope of future life in eschatological Zion. In the process, the crucial elements of continuity and transformation of tradition are highlighted. The first intertextual argument focuses on the connection of the Promised Land with a promise of rest, citing Ps 95 at length. Juxtaposing Ps 95 with Gen 22 and Exod 33, Hebrews transposes (a) the past promise to a future hope and (b) the promise of a place to a state of existence. As the concept of rest is first linked with the land in Exod 33, it becomes one of the main criteria by which to judge whether the promise had reached fulfillment. From Hebrews’ perspective, Ps 95 indicates that by the time of David the “rest” aspect of the promise was still to be realized. A second intertextual argument takes on the exegetical issue of human beings entering “My rest” (that is, the LORD’s rest; Ps 95:11), putting further distance between “Promised” and “Land.” Later, in the great list of heroes in Hebrews 11, a third exposition juxtaposes allusions to Genesis with texts from the Psalms and Isaiah to show that even Abraham sought a city prepared by God in a heavenly country (11:9-16) as his ultimate destination. A fourth exposition, in Hebrews 12, looks back to Sinai and forward with Haggai 2, making the final connection between the covenant with Abraham’s descendants amidst trembling at Sinai and a new covenant offering an unshakeable kingdom. The fulfillment of the promise looks dramatically different than expected in Genesis 22, but it awaits those with faith. Hebrews uses text after text in an effort to convince its readers to put their trust in promises that are simultaneously ancient and contemporary. In the broader scheme of the book, the “new” covenant is both new and old—both a continuation and an innovation. While Hebrews asks its readers to look to a heavenly city and put their faith in what is even better and is not yet seen, its use of scripture and tradition also assures them the present promises rest on those that have long been known.


S22-243
Sabbath in Text and Tradition
11/22/2015
1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: 313 (Level 3) - HiltonTheme: Sabbath, Rest, and Holiness

Erhard H. Gallos, Andrews University
What “Rest” Remains? A Close Reading of Hebrews 4 (20 min) 

What “Rest” Remains? A Close Reading of Hebrews 4
The topic of “rest” in Hebrews has received considerable attention most recently. However, the existence of competing understandings of the religio-historical provenance of “rest” has not led to a consensus regarding its meaning. This paper takes the initiative of not imposing foreign religio-historical constructs on the “rest” motif, but defines both terms katapausis and sabbatisomos etymologically and from the usage in the LXX. Also, the structural relationship between Heb 4 and 10 becomes important in understanding “rest.” This paper proposes that various semantic, syntactical, and formal cohesions between Heb 4 and 10 shed crucial light on the “rest” motif. The temporal dimension of “rest” becomes pivotal in understanding Hebrews 4. 

Carl Mosser, University of Notre Dame, Respondent (10 min)
 

S22-320
Hebrews
11/22/2015
4:00 PM to 6:30 PM
Room: International 5 (International Level) - MarriottTheme: Theology and Ethics in Hebrews
Harold Attridge, Yale University, Presiding (5 min)

Cynthia Kittredge, Seminary of the Southwest
Feminist Interpretation of Hebrews and Feminist Theology (30 min) 

Feminist Interpretation of Hebrews and Feminist Theology
Feminist readings of the Epistle to the Hebrews span the past decades and illustrate significant shifts in method and approach in the discipline of feminist biblical studies. The work of Ruth Hoppin (1969), Mary Rose D’Angelo (1992, 2012) and Cynthia Briggs Kittredge (1994) has brought critical theological questions to the text of Hebrews about suffering, and punishment, obedience, priesthood, perfection, solidarity, and community. A book length study in the Wisdom Commentary series by Mary Ann Beavis with Hye Ran Kim-Cragg (2015) excavates the submerged sophialogy of Hebrews from the vantage points of multiple disciplines for theological construction and critique. This paper will explore the most urgent theological questions that are addressed in recent feminist reading of Hebrews and will evaluate the impact of feminist biblical interpretation of Hebrews on constructive feminist theology.

Amy Peeler, Wheaton College (Illinois)
“Leading Many Sons to Glory”: Implications of Exclusive Language in the Epistle to the Hebrews (30 min) 

“Leading Many Sons to Glory”: Implications of Exclusive Language in the Epistle to the Hebrews
The author of Hebrews, unsurprisingly, does not employ inclusive language. When he speaks of the humans with whom God is involved in a salvific relationship, he often calls them “sons” (uios, 2:10; 12:5–8). He also speaks of the benefits of being a son, including access to inheritance (1:14; 9:15; 12:23), education (5:13–14; 12:7–11), and priesthood (5:1–4; 10:19–20). As an investigation of women’s participation (or lack thereof) in these arenas in the first-century world, this paper asks how women listening to the sermon to the Hebrews might have perceived this language. The author makes a powerful claim that he and his audience stand in the same relationship with God as does Jesus the Son, but this theological assertion could have added social implications for women who would not normally be included in the privileges typically reserved for sons.

Douglas Farrow, McGill University
The Gift of Fear (30 min)

The Gift of Fear
Douglas Farrow Hebrews Section SBL x David Moffitt Mar 23 (1 day ago) to me, amy.peeler Dear Amy and Craig, Douglas Farrow just sent me the abstract for his paper in the Hebrews section entitled "The Gift of Fear" (see below). He will have to leave SBL on Monday afternoon and has asked that the session not be scheduled later than Monday morning. Hope all is well! Best, David The Gift of Fear Post-Copernican man peers into the heavens and sees grandeur and mystery but no throne of God. Neither does he recognize any purification of ta epourania. Consequently he does not understand the shaking of either earth or heaven. There is no fear of God before his eyes. He lacks the gift of fear, which (as Thomas says) exists preeminently in Christ. The kind of fear he knows is rather the kind that leads to despair, that belongs to what Kierkegaard called the sickness unto death. The lack of the former and the presence of the latter are transforming western law and culture in its own pursuit of a better country. Hebrews, then, is a tract for our times. The paper explores the theme of godly fear that is fundamental to its ethos and ethics, as counterpoint to the confidence motif, the two being mediated by the document’s ascension theology.

D. Stephen Long, Marquette University
The Political Theology of the Priest-King in Hebrews (30 min)

The Political Theology of the Priest-King in Hebrews
This essay examines the political and theological significance of two important images to which Hebrews consistently returns. First is Christ's "session;" he is seated at the right hand of God — he is enthroned as king. Second is his priesthood; he is a priest after the order of Melchizedek. These two images come together to form a "political theology" that offers the ethical imperative to "hold fast" and "endure." The juxtaposition of these two images in the "priest-king" renders intelligible the thirteen admonitions found in the closing chapter of Hebrews. For interspersed among these thirteen admonitions is a reminder of what the letter has accomplished — presenting the Priest-King who himself remains constant and sets forth an altar in a city that will be, like him, lasting. The political and ethical significance of Hebrews' presentation will be compared and contrasted to other ancient possibilities in order to bring its unique import into view.

Discussion (25 min) 


S22-340
Sacrifice, Cult, and Atonement
11/22/2015
4:00 PM to 6:30 PM
Room: 403 (Level 4) - HiltonTheme: Sacrificial Themes in Biblical Narrative

Shawn J. Wilhite, Southern Seminary
Atonement in the Heavenly Holy of Holies: Early Reception of Atonement in Origen of Alexandria’s Reading of Hebrews (25 min)

Atonement in the Heavenly Holy of Holies: Early Reception of Atonement in Origen of Alexandria’s Reading of Hebrews
David Moffitt’s 2011 monograph, Atonement and the Logic of Resurrection in the Epistle to the Hebrews, has certainly stirred Hebrews scholarship. In 2013, I. Howard Marshall levels a plethora of critiques against Moffitt’s monograph, including why no one else in the early church resembles such position. The following seeks to respond to such criticism via History of Interpretation of Hebrews by asking two questions of Origen of Alexandria’s literature. (1) According to Origen’s reading of the Epistle of Hebrews, where is the locale of atonement? and (2) According to Origen, when does Jesus acquire the position of high priest. These research questions, when asked of Origen, prove to be both continuous and discontinuous with portions of Moffitt’s thesis. For Origen, especially his reading of Heb 4:14 and 9:23–26, (1) atonement is accomplished in the Holy of Holies, which is heaven, and (2) Jesus has always been high priest, even in his pre-incarnation and incarnation position. 


S23-114
Digital Humanities in Biblical, Early Jewish, and Christian Studies; Papyrology and Early Christian Backgrounds
Joint Session With: Digital Humanities in Biblical, Early Jewish, and Christian Studies, Papyrology and Early Christian Backgrounds
11/23/2015
9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Room: International A (International Level) - MarriottTheme: Papyrology and Digital Humanities

Claire Clivaz, Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics
Does Any Fragment Count? Considering the Digital Culture from a Papyrological Point of View (30 min)

Does Any Fragment Count? Considering the Digital Culture from a Papyrological Point of View
Every intellectual adventure has a starting point. Digital Humanities are today well anchoraged in the Swiss academic landscape, but when I started to focus my attention on this growing research trend and involved an interdisciplinary team of colleagues in this adventure, I started from papyrological evidences and research. Six years later, I would like in this paper come back to this apparently surprising starting point. In a masterful small essay, the French writer Pascal Quignard has drawn the praise and the complexity of the “fragment”, inspired by the work of La Bruyère (Une gêne technique à l’égard des fragments, 1986). In our emerging digital culture, the “fragment” sounds again to be a quite usual form of textuality, a form so well known in papyrology. Indeed, by its so often fragmentary aspect, a papyrus is an object proper to disrupt and deconstruct the careful categories established by the Modern Age. Papyrology has always lead researchers to «visualization», beyond a textual perception of it: it has always mattered to see the papyrus, to compare its writing with another one, in order to date it. Such elements draw the general background that has lead papyrology to get the digital country before other Ancient fields, as I begun to argue it in a 2011 article. I will develop this general background and observe in which ways some DH projects are dealing with the notion and perception of the «fragment», such as SAWS for example. Finally, I will considering the specific case of the small P126 (PSI 1497). It challenges our common modern and pre-digital notion of the “text” of the Epistle according to the Hebrews (see Clivaz 2010): to “take the digital risk” of the fragment impacts what we know about and read in Hebrews. 


P23-123
International Syriac Language Project
11/23/2015
9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Room: 404 (Level 4) - HiltonTheme: Lexicography: Selected Issues and Improved Tools (1)

Michael Theophilos, Australian Catholic University
The Numismatic Background of "charakter" in Heb 1:3 (30 min)

The Numismatic Background of "charakter" in Heb 1:3
This paper explores the implications of numismatic material for contributions to Greek lexicography, particularly as it pertains to linguistic features of the post-classical period. The working aim of this paper is to offer a demonstration and methodological enquiry into employing dated and geographically legitimate comparative numismatic data to refine, illuminate and clarify the relevant semantic domains of New Testament vocabulary. Our discussion will involve analysis of the numismatic background of charakter in Hebrews 1:3. Charakter has been variously translated in the English versions with significant variation (“express image” [KJV, NKJV, AV, JUB]; “exact imprint” [ESV, NRSV]; “very image” [ASV]; “representation” [NET, LEB]; “exact representation” [NIV, NASB]; “exact likeness” [GW, GNT, ISV]; expression” [DARBY]; “exact expression” [HCSB]; “flawless; expression” [PHILLIPS]; “very expression” [CJB]; “very stamp” [RSV]; “engraved form” [GNV]; “impress” [YLT]). Attention to the numismatic record significantly enhances and refines the definition of the relevant semantic domains, especially in regard to diachronic developments. 


S23-211
Christian Apocrypha
11/23/2015
1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: 313 (Level 3) - HiltonTheme: "Lived Contexts" of Christian Apocrypha

Alexander Kocar, Princeton University
Saints, Sinners, and Apostates: Moral, Salvific, and Anthropological Difference in the Shepherd of Hermas and the Apocryphon of John (25 min)

Saints, Sinners, and Apostates: Moral, Salvific, and Anthropological Difference in the Shepherd of Hermas and the Apocryphon of John
What happens when the saved sin again? In this paper, I will consider and compare two early Christian texts, the Shepherd of Hermas and the Apocryphon of John, that both deploy salvific difference to account for the social and theoretical problems posed by sin after baptism. Both Hermas (Sim 8) and the Apocryphon (NHC II, 9; 27) use spatial metaphors representing higher and lower levels of salvation to differentiate between apostates and ordinary sinners; in so doing, these texts subdivide post-baptismal sinners into distinct and usable categories of persons. For both Hermas and the Apocryphon then, this salvific hierarchy enables greater flexibility for readmitting sinful community members while still maintaining important social and ethical boundaries. In the course of this paper, I will contextualize these two texts in light of competing views on repentance and apostasy, e.g., in the Letter to the Hebrews and the writings Ignatius. And finally, I will elucidate how both Hermas and the Apocryphon employ anthropological justifications to explain different types of conduct; in particular, I will examine how both Hermas and the Apocryphon construct persons – in particular sinful persons – in order to account for the possibility of their repentance but also the danger of their apostasy. 


S23-327
Hebrews; Wisdom and Apocalypticism
Joint Session With: Hebrews, Wisdom and Apocalypticism
11/23/2015
4:00 PM to 6:30 PM
Room: Baker (Atlanta Conference Level) - HyattTheme: Time and Space in Hebrews: Sapiential and Apocalyptic Perspectives
Matthew Goff, Florida State University, Presiding (5 min)

Jared C. Calaway, Illinois College
Spatiotemporality in Hebrews, 4 Ezra, and Revelation (25 min)

Spatiotemporality in Hebrews, 4 Ezra, and Revelation
In general, scholars have divided themselves among those who study space and those who study time, treating them as discrete, yet complementary categories. This is true in the academe broadly, in biblical studies, and in the study of Hebrews specifically. Concerning Hebrews, scholars focusing on the spatial cosmology tend to prefer a Platonic or Philonic reading, while those with a temporal perspective prefer a more apocalyptic/eschatological stance. More recently, however, a handful of scholars have begun to note the sophisticated spatiotemporal interactions that occur throughout Hebrews. Applying insights by critical theorists such as Henri Lefebvre and M.M. Bakhtin among others, this paper will explore some of the sophisticated relationships of space and time that extend throughout Hebrews with special attention to traditions of rest/land, tabernacle, and the camp, and how these spatial categories map in complex ways onto temporal categories of Sabbath, present, and future ages. This paper will provide a differential reading of the spatiotemporality of Hebrews by drawing in roughly contemporary apocalyptic works, particularly 4 Ezra and Revelation, which also have strong interests in the relationship between past, present, and future ages and the spatial categories of land/rest and temple/tabernacle, but map these relationships in different ways. This analysis, therefore, will take some initial steps to show what distinctive contribution Hebrews gives, while also seeing how it participates in spatiotemporal speculation of its own historical time and place.

Catherine Playoust, University of Divinity
The Location of the Cloud of Witnesses: Complexities of Time and Space in Hebrews (25 min)

The Location of the Cloud of Witnesses: Complexities of Time and Space in Hebrews
The hearers of Hebrews are told in Heb 12:1 that as they run toward their heavenly goal they are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, faithful heroes of past generations who are like onlookers cheering on the contestants from the sides of the racetrack. While reassuring for the runners, this is disconcerting from the perspective of the witnesses, who are neither peacefully asleep in the dust until the general resurrection nor settled safely in heaven. Their situation is no mere artefact of the phrasing, for the text states just beforehand that these people have not received what was promised to them, since their perfection will not take place apart from that of the hearers. Indeed, the awkward position in which the witnesses find themselves points to certain challenges of time and space that pervade the text. For its hearers, Hebrews emphasises the continuity from this life to the heavenly life: with souls anchored by the hope entering inside the veil, they are to hold fast, to fix their eyes on Jesus, who is the forerunner in their journey, and to draw near to the throne. Heb 12:22-24 even gives the impression that they have reached the heavenly Jerusalem already, in a festal gathering that encompasses the hearers collectively as well as the now-perfected righteous. Admittedly, much of the text warns about the danger of losing this connection through falling away in sin, but the idea that the individual's death and resurrection might come between now and heavenly entry is barely present, despite occasional brief references to the resurrection of the dead and other future-eschatological events. The case of Jesus is no less puzzling: the link from his death to his exalted entry into the Holy of Holies is so tight that were it not for Heb 13:20, right at the end of the text, one might wonder how the slain victim had managed to carry his own blood inside to offer it sacrificially as high priest. Even in that verse, the language employed is that of elevation from the dead rather than granting of new life. Pre-Christian Jewish apocalyptic texts already manifested a range of beliefs about afterlife, heaven and resurrection, but the inclusion of Jesus-traditions complicated the story further, as will be shown through a brief study of how some other early Christian texts (1 Clement, Ascension of Isaiah, and Revelation) handled these ideas; like Hebrews, each of these texts would leave some questions unresolved.

Kevin B. McCruden, Gonzaga University
Heavenly Realities and Habits of the Heart: Apocalyptic and the Cultivation of Common Life in the Epistle to the Hebrews (25 min)

Heavenly Realities and Habits of the Heart: Apocalyptic and the Cultivation of Common Life in the Epistle to the Hebrews
Among the diverse conceptual backgrounds informing the Epistle to the Hebrews are clear apocalyptic elements and traditions recognizable from other Second Temple Jewish texts as well as texts from the New Testament. The influence of Jewish apocalyptic traditions is perhaps most visible in the rich cosmology of Hebrews, in particular its portrayal of the heavenly session of the Son beside the throne of God in an eternal sanctuary. While the presence of apocalyptic elements in Hebrews seems clear, there is less certainty over the question concerning how apocalyptic imagery and concepts function in Hebrews. Does the author employ apocalyptic imagery primarily in the service of a distinctive Christology that pictures Jesus as an eternal high priest who offers himself in the heavenly regions? Or is it possible that apocalyptic also functions in Hebrews to shape what I would like to call the “habits of the heart” or communal character of the unidentified auditors of the sermon? In this paper I will contend 1) that Hebrews’ use of apocalyptic imagery functions, on the one hand, to reflect imaginatively on the theological claim that Jesus shares fully in the divine life of God and 2) that the author also employs apocalyptic elements for the purpose of inviting the community behind this sermon to embody a transformed common life. Clear textual hints that an invitation to renewed existence is a concern for the author are visible, for example, in the frequent references to the cleansed conscience of the believer, the sanctification of the believer, as well as the implicit summons to the community to emulate the faithfulness of Jesus in response to the pressure of societal scorn and derision. This paper will demonstrate, moreover, that when we view the use of apocalyptic elements in Hebrews from the vantage point of its implicit and explicit moral challenge to the community we discern potential points of contact between Hebrews and other New Testament texts that employ apocalyptic imagery for similar pastoral purposes.

Madison N. Pierce, Durham University
The Wilderness Space in Hebrews and Wisdom of Solomon (25 min)

The Wilderness Space in Hebrews and Wisdom of Solomon
While the Exodus itself is a positive event in the life of Israel, the wilderness evokes a mixed response. It is the space where God miraculously provided for his people, as well as the space where they rebelled and ultimately perished. Depictions of these episodes represent this tension also. For example, Hebrews 3.7–4.11 presents the wilderness as a space of testing, where the community proves whether it can persevere, but the latter half of Wisdom of Solomon (most of 10.15–19.22) depicts this space as one where God graciously provided for the “righteous” Israelites and punished their wicked enemies. The different accounts thus present a tension between human response and divine action. To gain insight into Hebrews’ choice to emphasize the human element in the wilderness, rather than the divine, this paper will bring these texts into conversation and explore their constructions of the wilderness space. I will first summarize the accounts of Massah and Meribah in Wisdom of Solomon, then analyze the authors’ uses of the tradition, and finally suggest their underlying motivation for their contrasting emphases.

Eric F. Mason, Judson University (Elgin, Illinois)
Hebrews 1 as Apocalyptic Revelation (25 min)

Hebrews 1 as Apocalyptic Revelation
Scholars of Hebrews have long discussed the presence of elements of Jewish apocalyptic thought in the book, especially when considering the author’s cosmological, messianic, and eschatological ideas. Likewise, interpreters frequently comment on the way the author uses quotations of Scripture in Hebrews 1 compared to his use of quotations elsewhere in the text. The author presents the words of Scripture in Hebrews 1 as the direct words of God, now recontextualized to speak instead of the Son. Recent suggestions for understanding this phenomenon include appeals to ancient rhetorical methods like prosopopoeia or the possibility that the materials here are rooted in the author’s mystical experiences. Without fully rejecting the former or heartily embracing the latter, I suggest instead the possibility that the author presents these particular words of God as a form of apocalyptic revelation. Both the setting of this divine speech and the themes addressed are consistent with that of apocalyptic revelation, even if the means by which the material is presented is modified to fit the author’s purposes in the book of Hebrews itself.

Discussion (20 min)