tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7584492698366396071.post4013366987245013850..comments2023-11-02T09:01:30.794-05:00Comments on Polumeros kai Polutropos: Gardiner on the Authorship of HebrewsBrian Smallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14209118115977821617noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7584492698366396071.post-28686033882418303172009-05-21T00:08:01.221-05:002009-05-21T00:08:01.221-05:00Hi Paul:
Thanks for your comments. All I was sug...Hi Paul:<br /><br />Thanks for your comments. All I was suggesting in my review was that if my readers want to know the statistical breakdown of word usage in Hebrews, Paul, Luke etc., they should read Gardiner's article. I left most of the statistics out of the review.<br /><br />I think what 2:3-4 is suggesting is that the author, along with his audience/readers, belongs to the second generation of Christians. "Those who heard" probably refers to the apostles and others who had direct contact with Jesus. So, this does not rule out Barnabas or Apollos per se.<br /><br />Actually, many scholars favor Apollos as the author of Hebrews because of his description in Acts 18:24-26: he was an eloquent man, which aligns nicely with the rhetorical skill of the book, and he was mighty in the scriptures, which corresponds nicely with the author of Hebrews' skill in interpretation. Also many scholars see an affinity between Hebrews' use of scripture, and philosophical outlook, and that of some Alexandrian writers, such as Philo. Of course, we have no extant ancient witnesses that ever considered Apollos as the author of the book.<br /><br />I agree that we will probably never know who the real author of Hebrews is. I could make an equally good case for at least 3 or 4 different people. I tend to be agnostic about the authorship of Hebrews. But, of course, the fact that we will never know who the author is, has never stopped scholars from speculating! We can at least use our interpretive skills to make some educated guesses.<br /><br />If you are interested in some of my other article reviews regarding authorship, just click on the authorship link under "labels" on the sidebar and it will take you to some other reviews. I am sure more will be coming as I come across them.Brian Smallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14209118115977821617noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7584492698366396071.post-12886740163130081392009-05-20T19:27:35.826-05:002009-05-20T19:27:35.826-05:00This was fascinating, as I'm very interested in sp...This was fascinating, as I'm very interested in speculation about the authorship of Hebrews, and I don't really have time to do the kind of research you suggest.<br /><br />So, thank you to Gardiner for doing some for us!<br /><br />Two thoughts:<br /><br />I can't see Barnabas or Apollos (or Paul) writing about "those" who spoke the Gospel to "us," as in Hebrews 2:3-4. Luke might use such terminology, but men like Paul, Barnabas, and Apollos are part of the "those" that spoke the Gospel and confirmed it with signs following.<br /><br />Second, once we eliminate Paul or Luke, we're really guessing after that. Apollos is said to be from Alexandria, so it's not so far-fetched that we should throw out his name, but for any others we're just wildly guessing. There has to be dozens of possible authors, friends of Paul whose names we don't know.<br /><br />Paul, according to the fathers, was in Rome for at least a couple years, helping the church get established there. Who did he meet there? Was Mark there with Peter? Mark ended up in Alexandria. Did someone Mark met write it?<br /><br />That's a wild guess, very unlikely, but speculating about the author of Hebrews if it wasn't Paul is all wild guesses. There's a "long tail" of names we don't even know that could have been the author.<br /><br />It's a lot easier to eliminate possibilities. I suspect guessing at the actual author after we eliminate Paul and Luke is not very profitable.Paul Pavaohttp://www.christian-history.orgnoreply@blogger.com