Hebrews Highlights March 2018

Henry Neufeld discusses Repentance in Hebrews 6:4–6.

Hebrews at Various Conferences

The book of Hebrews was/will be featured in several papers at various meetings in the first part of 2018. Here are the papers that I was able to identify:

MIDWEST REGIONAL MEETING
Saint Mary’s College – Notre Dame, Indiana

Saturday, February 3, 10:30–11:30
HEBREWS & CATHOLIC EPISTLES (A)
Jared Calaway, Illinois Wesleyan University
On the Ignorance of the Audience: A Modest Proposal for the Letter to the
Hebrews
"Several scholars have inquired into understanding the audience in Hebrews
including: location, ethnicity, and social issues of persecution and malaise.
Additionally, there have been occasional considerations of the audience’s
knowledge of the biblical tradition, usually couched in terms of whether
they could follow the author’s complex presentation. What demands,
however, does the author make on the audience’s knowledge? What
knowledge is assumed or assumed lacking? Looking at these questions, I
contend that the audience likely knew the general outlines of the biblical
accounts, but were fuzzy on the contextual details, and the author takes
advantage of this in his* hermeneutics."

SOUTHEASTERN REGIONAL MEETING
Atlanta Marriott Buckhead Hotel & Resort - Atlanta, Georgia

Friday, March 2, 6:00–8:00
NEW TESTAMENT I
Christopher T. Holmes, McAfee School of Theology Fear of Death in the Epistle to the Hebrew

EVANGELICAL THEOLOGICAL SOCIETY SOUTHWEST REGIONAL
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary-Houston Campus

Friday, March 2, 4:30–5:10
Boyd Luter, The King’s University, Southlake, Texas
Israel’s Land Promise and Hebrews: ‘The End’ or ‘On Hold’—as Jesus Predicted?” 

WESLEYAN THEOLOGICAL SOCIETY ANNUAL MEETING
Pentecostal Theological Seminary - Cleveland, Tennessee

Saturday, March 10, 8:30–10:00
BIBLICAL STUDIES
Suzanne "Brett" DeMond
"Finishing on the Right Side of History: Group Borders in the Book of Hebrews"

CENTRAL STATES REGIONAL MEETING
Stoney Creek Hotel & Conference Center - Columbia, Missouri

Monday, March 12, 1:00–3:00
NEW TESTAMENT III
Matthew C. Easter, Missouri Baptist University
“Root of Bitterness Defiling Many: An Intertextual Reading of Sexually Immoral Esau in Hebrews 12:15-17”

EVANGELICAL THEOLOGICAL SOCIETY MIDWEST REGIONAL
Grace Bible College, Grand Rapids, Michigan

Friday, March 23, 8:00–9:30
J. Michael McKay, Cedarville University
"Reevaluation of Iesous in Hebrews: Joshua or Jesus?"

EVANGELICAL THEOLOGICAL SOCIETY EASTERN REGIONAL
Lancaster Bible College, Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Friday, April 6, 1:00
Timothy Bertolet, Faith Bible Fellowship Church, York, PA
Why Moses? Re-Evaluating the Reference to Moses in Heb. 3:1-6

Two New Books on Hebrews 12

I received an email today from ISD announcing two forthcoming books on Hebrews 12:18–29:

Lukas Stolz. Der Höhepunkt des Hebräerbriefs: Hebräer 12,18-29 und seine Bedeutung für die Struktur und die Theologie des Hebräerbriefs
In der Forschung zum Hebräerbrief wurde die besondere strukturelle und theologische Bedeutung von Hebr 12,18-29 bereits mehrfach postuliert. Lukas Stolz geht zum ersten Mal ausführlich der Frage nach, ob bzw. inwiefern der Abschnitt sowohl strukturell als auch theologisch als Höhepunkt des Schreibens ad Hebraeos gelten kann.Nachdem der Autor wichtige Einleitungsfragen zum Hebräerbrief behandelt, erfolgt die Exegese von Hebr 12,18-29, in der er sich den zahlreichen Auslegungsfragen zum theologisch äusserst dichten Abschnitt detailliert und mit verschiedenen Exkursen stellt.Im auswertenden Schlussteil der Arbeit werden die literarischen, rhetorischen und inhaltlichen Hinweise für den Höhepunktcharakter von Hebr 12,18-29 ausführlich dargelegt. Aufgrund eines Vergleichs von Hebr 12,18-29 mit den Vorgaben der antiken Rhetoriklehrer für einen guten Redeschluss, argumentiert Lukas Stolz, dass der Abschnitt auch die peroratio des Hebrärbriefs ist.

Christopher T. Holmes. The Function of Sublime Rhetoric in Hebrews: A Study in Hebrews 12:18-29
In this study, Christopher T. Holmes provides a focused analysis of the rhetorical and stylistic features of Hebrews 12:18-29, their intended effects upon the audience, and the role of the passage in the larger argument of Hebrews. He draws extensively from the first-century treatise, De Sublimitate, arguing that it provides a significant context for interpreting the rhetoric and style of Hebrews. Although New Testament scholars have drawn significantly from the ancient handbooks of Aristotle, Quintilian, and Cicero in the last several decades, this is the first monograph-length study to use De Sublimitate as the primary analytical tool for New Testament interpretation. The result of the study shows that the author's efforts to move the readers "beyond persuasion" shed new light on the thought and genre of Hebrews. Christopher T. Holmes offers both exegetical insights about Hebrews and an additional way to think about the distinctiveness of early Christian rhetoric.

According to the email, both books will be out on May 1. As typical, the prices are outrageous—and for paperbacks no less.

Assembling the Cloud of Witnesses

Heythrop College University of London

Centre for Textual Studies

Assembling the Cloud of Witnesses

Essays in Honour of Marie Isaacs (1936 - 2016)

Friday 9 March 2018 at 10.30am

The Heythrop Centre for Textual Studies presents a one-day colloquium in honour of Rev. Dr. Marie Isaacs, a New Testament scholar, the author of The Concept of Spirit: A Study of Pneuma in Hellenistic Judaism and Its Bearing on the New Testament (1976); Sacred Space: An Approach to the Theology of the Epistle to the Hebrews (1992); Reading Hebrews and James: A Literary and Theological Commentary (2002). Marie taught at Heythrop for 30 years, becoming head of the department of Biblical Studies and serving as college Vice-Principal. Alongside her academic career, Marie was an ordained minister and one of the first women ministers in the Baptist Church.

The programme will include contributions by Marie’s former colleagues from Heythrop and King’s College as well as a new generation of Heythrop-associated scholars, paying tribute to Marie’s scholarly work and exploring various areas of biblical studies. The list of confirmed speakers includes:

Nick King, The Spirit in John's Gospel: A tribute to Marie Isaacs

Jenny Dines, Witnesses Under a Cloud: who and what are Hypocrites in the New Testament?

Ann Jeffers, The Case of the Clever Ancestress: the afterlives of Sarah in Hebrews, Philo and the Testament of Abraham

Bridget Gilfillan Upton, Neither History nor Fiction: John's Gospel as Persuasion/Propaganda

Mary Mills, Literary Violence in the Book of Revelation

Sean Ryan, Sacred Space in the Apocalypse: The "shrine of the tent of witness in heaven" (Rev 15:5)

Jonathan Norton, The Rhetorical Purpose of the Hypocrite in Romans 1-3

Alison Fincham, In Training for the Heavenly City: Hebrews 12:1-13

Starting at 10 for 10.30am. Registration fee of £15 will be charged to cover the cost of catering.

Register at: https://shop.heythrop.ac.uk/conferences-and-events/academia-and-outreach/the-centre-for-textual-studies/assembling-the-cloud-of-witnesses

Conference organisers: Dr Jonathan Norton, Dr Sean Ryan (Heythrop Centre for Textual Studies)

Whitfield Reviews Dyer, Suffering in the Face of Death

Bryan J. Whitfield reviews Bryan R. Dyer, Suffering in the Face of Death: The Epistle to the Hebrews and Its Context of Situation for RBL.

I have a review of Dyer's book forthcoming in the June issue of the Horizons journal. I will publish the review once it has appeared in print. Since I was constrained by a word limit, you will find Whitfield's review to be more thorough.