Abstract
This new addition to the SBL series of Resources for Biblical Study abundantly fulfils what a good essay collection for students should provide. The editors have assumed that those using the book are working through Hebrews with a standard commentary, and have sought to complement rather than rival its work. The methods and perspectives of the contributors are characterised by pluriformity, while the topics they address are also notable for their extensive range. The Epistle’s Greco-Roman context, Middle Platonism, Apocalypticism, Scriptural interpretation, rhetoric, social sciences, narratology, theology, patristics, Jewish-Christian relations and liturgy ancient and modern all find a place. I particularly appreciated Frank Matera’s lucid presentation of the theology of the epistle; Rowan Greer’s exploration of the relationship between the Jesus of Hebrews and the Christ of Chalcedon, and Mark Torgerson’s analysis of the use of Hebrews in worship, which includes an intriguing sample of hymns that have drawn on it from antiquity to the present day, such as the one from which this review takes its title. Hebrews, like the Catholic Epistles, has enjoyed something of a renaissance of interest among scholars in recent years, and Reading the Epistle to the Hebrews reflects that excitement, even as it notes the striking contrast with Bultmann’s virtual neglect of the epistle (p.1). This Resource for Students is distinguished by the fact that it pitches the essays at an intellectual level that is stimulating to ‘any educated reader studying Hebrews for the first time’, and it is enhanced by the masterstroke of an ‘epilogue’ by the great Harold Attridge, in which he not only summarises but also critically engages with the essays in the book, highlighting what he considers to be their strengths, weaknesses and limitations. Thus the collection has not only breadth and pace, but also a level of critical depth and contemplative self-reflection, which invite readers into the debates by alerting them to controversies. The warm delight of the contributors in seeking to open this ‘difficult, mysterious’ (p.2) book to students of ‘a new generation’ (pp.12, 307) pours forth from the pages, enriching the tone and tenor of the work as a whole.