In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

203 CHAPTER EIGHT HOW THE SCROLLS IMPACTED SCHOLARSHIP ON HEBREWS Harold W. Attridge The relationship of the Dead Sea Scrolls to the New Testament has been the subject of considerable scholarly debate over the course of the last half century.1 The Epistle to the Hebrews, with its distinctive Christology and exegetical style, has been an important focal point for that debate. Before reviewing the state of the question, it is important to keep in mind what kind of text Hebrews is.2 THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS The Epistle to the Hebrews, an anonymous early Christian homily, exhorts a Christian community, beset by external opposition (10:32–34; 13:13) and perhaps losing some of its initial zeal (10:25, 39), to renewed fidelity, inspired by the example of the faithful Son and High Priest, Jesus Christ (12:1–3).3 Hebrews combines warnings of impending judgment4 1. An earlier version of this survey appeared in Alan J. Avery-Peck, Daniel Harrington, and Jacob Neusner, eds., When Judaism and Christianity Began: Essays in Memory of Anthony J. Saldarini, vol. 2, Judaism and Christianity in the Beginning (Leiden: Brill, 2004), 315–42. 2. For a useful brief survey of the entire question, see George J. Brooke, “The Scrolls and the Study of the New Testament,” in The Dead Sea Scrolls at Fifty (ed. R. A. Kugler and E. M. Schuller; SBLEJL 15; Atlanta: SBL, 1999), 61–76. 3. For detailed discussion, see Harold W. Attridge, Hebrews (Hermeneia; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1987), with earlier bibliography. More recently, see the commentaries by Harald Hegermann, Der Brief an die Hebräer (Berlin: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, 1988); William L. Lane, Hebrews (WBC 47A–B; Waco, TX: Word, 1991); Hans-Friedrich Weiss, Der Brief an die Hebräer (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1991); Mary Rose D’Angelo, “Hebrews,” in The Women’s Bible Commentary (ed. C. Newsom and S. Ringe; Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1992), 364–68; Eric Grässer, An die Hebräer (EKKNT 17; 6 vols.; Zürich: Benziger; Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1990—1999) idem, Aufbruch und Verheissung: Gesammelte Aufsätze zum Hebräerbrief zum 65. Geburtstag mit einer Bibliographie des Verfassers (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1992); Paul Ellingworth, The Epistle to the Hebrews: A Commentary on the Greek 204 THE SCROLLS’ IMPACT ON SCHOLARSHIP ON HEBREWS and positive exhortations5 to endure and witness with fidelity. A vision of the “last days” (1:12), bounded on the one side by the death and exaltation of Jesus (2:9) and on the other by an imminent day of reckoning (10:25), frames the paraenetic program. Within that frame stand the addressees, an unknown community of believers (3:1; 4:14; 6:4; 10:32) perhaps located in Rome, less likely in Jerusalem or a city of the Greek east.6 The homilist’s vision describes the reality of their situation, a reality that sustains and gives substance to their faith-filled hope (11:1). The homilist builds his literary mosaic with stones taken from the Scriptures, clearly in their Greek form.7 He knits them together with devices familiar from the rhetorical tradition,8 both on the surface, where Text (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1993); Thomas G. Long, Hebrews (Interpretation; Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1997); David A. DeSilva, Perseverance in Gratitude: A Socio-rhetorical Commentary on the Epistle “to the Hebrews” (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000); Craig R. Koester, Hebrews: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (AB 36; New York: Doubleday, 2001). Important recent studies on Hebrews include Nello Casalini, Dal simbolo alla realtà: L’espianzione dall’Antica alla Nuova Alleanza secondo Ebr 9,1—14; Una proposta esegetica (Analecta, Studium Biblicum Franciscanum 26; Jerusalem: Franciscan Press, 1989); Carlos Zesati Estrada, Hebreos 5,7–8: Estudio histórico-exegético (AnBib 113; Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute, 1990); Barnabas Lindars, The Theology of the Letter to the Hebrews (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991); John M. Scholar, Proleptic Priests: Priesthood in the Epistle to the Hebrews (JSNTSup 49; Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1991); Marie E. Isaacs, Sacred Space: An Approach to the Theology of the Epistle to the Hebrews (JSNT 73; Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1992); George H. Guthrie, The Structure of Hebrews: A Text-linguistic Analysis (NovTSup 73; Leiden: Brill, 1994); David A. DeSilva, Despising Shame: Honor Discourse and Community Maintenance in the Epistle to the Hebrews (SBLDS 152; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1995); Richard W. Johnson, Going Outside the Camp: The Sociological Function of the Levitical Critique in the Epistle to the Hebrews (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2001). 4...

Share