One of the focal issues surrounding contemporary studies of Hebrews concerns the book's elusive structure. This volume presents an examination of previous proposals and a fresh attempt at unlocking Hebrews' organizational principles. The first part of the volume critically assesses past efforts at outlining Hebrews. Following a history of investigation, the various approaches to the structure of Hebrews are categorized and evaluated for both strengths and weaknesses. Methodologies considered include thematic analysis, literary analysis, rhetorical analysis, and linguistic analysis. Part two of the volume offers a texts-linguistic analysis of Hebrews, utilizing both modern linguistic theory and insight into ancient oratorical conventions. This book presents advances in text-linguistic analysis and a compelling proposal concerning the structure of Hebrews.

Although the Book of Hebrews "is not exactly what most of us would regard as a user-friendly book," notes Donald Hagner, "Hebrews has always been popular among Christians." Encountering the Book of Hebrews was written to help students more fully appreciate the complexities of this favorite section of Scripture. Hagner begins by exploring introductory issues (e.g., historical backgrounds, author, audience, date, purpose, structure, genre) and overarching themes (e.g., heavenly archetypes and earthly copies, the use of the Old Testament, the attitude toward Judaism). The heart of the book then offers a chapter-by-chapter exposition of Hebrews. Unlike commentaries, it does not try to be exhaustive--examining all details and answering all questions--but instead guides students to the issues that are most important for their study of this difficult book. Hagner concludes with a final look at the contribution of Hebrews to the New Testament, New Testament theology, the church, and the individual Christian. As with other volumes in the Encountering Biblical Studies series, Encountering the Book of Hebrews is designed for classroom use and includes a number of helpful features, including further-reading sections, key terms, chapter objectives, and outlines along with numerous sidebars and illustrations.

This study attempts to analyse the text of Hebrews with a method of discourse analysis primarily based on a form of systemic functional linguistics developed for Hellenistic Greek, but it is also informed by other linguistic studies. It begins with a general survey of the literature that is either influential or representative of approaches to the structure of Hebrews. The survey is followed by an introduction to the terminology and definitions of discourse analysis, as well as the theory behind the methodology, and describes a procedure for analysing text. Hebrews is treated as having three sections. The first section of Hebrews (1:1-4:16) demonstrates the organization of the units, the topic of the units, the prominent text, and the relationship of the first section with the rest of the discourse. The second section of Hebrews (4:11-10:25) is described in two parts (4:11-7:28 and 8:1-10:25) because of its length. There is an overlap between the first and second sections in 4:11-16 and between the second and third sections in 10:19-25. Both of these passages have a concluding function for the preceding co-text and a staging function for the following co-text, so that they look backwards and forwards. The third and final section in 10:19-13:25 contains the climax or discourse peak. The study is concluded with a description of the coherence of the discourse and a presentation of a mental representation of the text. JSNTS and Studies in New Testament Greek subseries

In this extensive and eclectic reconsideration of classical Hebrew poetics, O'Connor evaluates the assumptions that have guided scholars for more than two hundred years. The result is "a great leap forward in the analysis and interpretation of early Hebrew poetry." (David Noel Freedman)

Hebrews is a thorough and wide-ranging look at Jesus' fulfillment of the expectations and religious requirements of the Old Testament. Dr. Pentecost guides the reader through the rich historical meaning and contemporary applications of Hebrews.

Written for theologians and graduate students in New Testament studies, The Letter to the Hebrews: A New Commentary, exegetes the entire letter verse by verse, paying attention to relevant issues for theology and spiritual life. Most remarkably, it explains why this "letter" is really a homily written by a preacher who must have delivered it several times in different places, and it offers an eloquent interpretation of the Letter to the Hebrews as a Christological hymn celebrating the priesthood of Christ. Highlights: - A thorough commentary - Written by the most renowned scholar - On one of the favorite and yet most enigmatic books of the New Testament: the Letter to the Hebrews. - It's not a "letter" at all--it's a homily. +

"New Testament writers drew heavily from Old Testament Scriptures as the demonstrated the fulfillment of the plan and promises of God in Christ. The New Testament is filled with such quotations, but their use raises several problems. How do we account for the occasions when the New Testament writers seem to take liberties with the Hebrew text, or when the wording of other New Testament citations of the Old Testament is closer to the Greek Septuagint (LXX) than to the original Hebrew? [The authors] have undertaken a systematic study of the use of Old Testament quotations in the New Testament. In three parallel columns for ready reference and study they have affixed the Masoretic Hebrew, Septuagint, and Greek New Testament texts pertinent to each quotation. A fourth column-- the largest segment of the valulable language tool--provides a critical commentary of orthographic, linguistic, and textual notes on the 312 entries. In addition, the authors include the results of a statistical survey in which every quotation is assigned to one of six levels to determine its degree of difficulty regarding the faithfulness of the New Testament to the Old Testament quotation. Helpful introductory material, including complete cross-references to the tool in both Old and New Testament order, make the work invaluable to scholars and students alike" -- BOOK JACKET from Moody Press.