Something which draws the immediate attention of the reader is the abundance of psalm citations in the Epistle to the Hebrews. In the first chapter five out of the seven quotations are taken from the Psalter. Also in the other chapters passages out of the book of Psalms represent an important share in the number of OT citations quoted. Undoubtedly the question will be raised what the author's purpose has been in expressing himself by means of citations form this particular OT book. We have tried to approach the first recipients of the Epistle in the time and world of thought which was theirs. Our interest has centered around the early Christian's familiarity with, and understanding of, the citations quoted, exegeted, and adapted by the author. Anachronistically we might say: if the "footnotes" to the Epistle should have been lost, we have attempted to restore some of them.

The Letter to the Hebrews is a key text in the New Testament canon. It has recently received a great deal of attention, prompting a resurgence of scholarly works, and a need to re-engage with some of the foundational works of scholarship on the text. The history of research on Hebrews is presented in this volume of critical readings, edited by Scott D. Mackie. The volume is organized thematically, addressing the following sub-areas: theology, Christology and pneumatology; eschatology; authorship and audience; structure and Greco-Roman influences; the relationship with contemporaneous Judaism, and soteriology. Each section is prefaced by an introduction and summary of the particular theme in Hebrews. At the end of each section is an annotated bibliography to point researchers towards further readings in and engagements with these key themes.

This book meets the need for an accessible introduction to the various ways that Scripture is used in the later writings of the New Testament: Acts, Hebrews, James, 1 & 2 Peter, 1, 2 & 3 John, Jude and Revelation.

Die direkten Zitate im Hebräerbrief gehen vermutlich auf eine Vorlage aus der Septuaginta zurück, sind aber bislang kaum erforscht. Von einer traditionsgeschichtlichen und einer textkritischen Perspektive aus geht Gert J. Steyn dieser Sachlage auf den Grund. Er folgt damit der im Hebräerbrief angelegten Struktur, die zwei verschiedene Arten von Zitaten kennt, die paarweise aufgeführt werden: primär Liedtexte und Zitate aus der Torah, die sich mit Psalm- und Prophetenworten vermischen. Gert J. Steyn untersucht jedes Zitat auf dem Hintergrund der möglichen alternativen Vorlage(n). Im Verlauf der Studie wird deutlich, dass der Briefautor selbst eine ganze Reihe an Zitaten aus der frühen jüdischen und der frühen christlichen Tradition kombiniert hat.

No detailed description available for "History and Literature of Early Christianity".

In this penultimate volume of his series on preaching Christ from the Old Testament, Sidney Greidanus offers expert guidance for busy pastors on preaching Christ from Psalms. Beginning with a general introduction on how pastors can interpret and preach from the biblical psalms — and why they should — Greidanus proceeds by discussing twenty-two psalms in the Revised Common Lectionary, Year A, supplying the building blocks necessary to preach from Psalms at Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, and other major days and seasons of the church year. In addition to laying out basic homiletical-theological approaches suitable for each selected psalm, these chapters also provide verse-by-verse exposition, bridges to Christ in the New Testament, and ideas for placing the psalmist’s words into contemporary context.

Preaching is dramatic. Through it, we hear the voice of the living God as he speaks to us both through the reading and the preaching of the word of God. But where do the hearers of sermons fit into the drama? This book suggests ways in which the drama metaphor may help to address age old questions about the centrality of the gospel and the place of the hearer in preaching. As God in Christ is the central character in the biblical drama of redemption, he also calls hearers to understand their role in creatively, yet faithfully living according to the biblical script. Thus, no sermon is complete until God's redemptive work is powerfully proclaimed, and his people are instructed in how they too are participating in the Missio Dei. In this work, Hebrews 11 is employed as a means of showing how God not only reveals his redemptive work to his people, but also through them. As postmodernism sets the stage of contemporary preaching, The Drama of Preaching interacts with some of the particular challenges preachers face in engaging postmodern listeners, that they might not only be hearers, but doers of the preached word.

There are two coexisting realities classified under New Testament eschatology: the temporal and spatial. While much scholarly attention has focused on the temporal, Luke Woo argues that the spatial aspect is either neglected or relegated to Platonic or cosmological categories. Woo thus seeks to provide a holistic understanding, by investigating these realities for believers under the heavenly tabernacle motif in the Epistle to the Hebrews. Woo posits that the author of Hebrews presents the heavenly tabernacle and all its high priestly activity in order to eschatologically situate, orient, and ground believers; thus enabling believers to actualize their heavenly, priestly identity by serving as priests on earth. Woo uses Edward Soja's Tripartite Critical Spatiality to analyze the heavenly tabernacle's Firstspace, Secondspace, and Thirdspace features found in Hebrews 4:14; 8:1–5; 9:1–14. He suggests that Christ, in his resurrection and ascension, enters an actualized, heavenly tabernacle, which allows believers to spiritually occupy that sanctuary space in the presence of God, establishing a spatial orientation for believers who can identify as heavenly priests and be motivated to serve as such as they live on earth.

The Word Biblical Commentary delivers the best in biblical scholarship, from the leading scholars of our day who share a commitment to Scripture as divine revelation. This series emphasizes a thorough analysis of textual, linguistic, structural, and theological evidence. The result is judicious and balanced insight into the meanings of the text in the framework of biblical theology. These widely acclaimed commentaries serve as exceptional resources for the professional theologian and instructor, the seminary or university student, the working minister, and everyone concerned with building theological understanding from a solid base of biblical scholarship. Overview of Commentary Organization Introduction—covers issues pertaining to the whole book, including context, date, authorship, composition, interpretive issues, purpose, and theology. Each section of the commentary includes: Pericope Bibliography—a helpful resource containing the most important works that pertain to each particular pericope. Translation—the author’s own translation of the biblical text, reflecting the end result of exegesis and attending to Hebrew and Greek idiomatic usage of words, phrases, and tenses, yet in reasonably good English. Notes—the author’s notes to the translation that address any textual variants, grammatical forms, syntactical constructions, basic meanings of words, and problems of translation. Form/Structure/Setting—a discussion of redaction, genre, sources, and tradition as they concern the origin of the pericope, its canonical form, and its relation to the biblical and extra-biblical contexts in order to illuminate the structure and character of the pericope. Rhetorical or compositional features important to understanding the passage are also introduced here. Comment—verse-by-verse interpretation of the text and dialogue with other interpreters, engaging with current opinion and scholarly research. Explanation—brings together all the results of the discussion in previous sections to expose the meaning and intention of the text at several levels: (1) within the context of the book itself; (2) its meaning in the OT or NT; (3) its place in the entire canon; (4) theological relevance to broader OT or NT issues. General Bibliography—occurring at the end of each volume, this extensive bibliographycontains all sources used anywhere in the commentary.

Despite its importance in the New Testament, relatively little has been written about Psalm 110. By considering how David brought together priesthood and kingship in a single figure, Matthew Emadi uncovers the theological foundations of Psalm 110, showing that Melchizedek's royal priesthood is tied to both creation and redemption.