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| Abraham and Melchizedek Dieric Bouts |
Book Written: Between 60 A.D. and 95 A.D. according to HC, but Baker gives 70 A.D.
Time Period/Setting: Authorship was for a long time ascribed to Paul, however, that is now an outmoded view. Possible authors are Barnabas, Apollos or Priscilla. HC suggests the intended recipients of the letter may be in Rome.
Title: Called a letter, HC says the Book of Hebrews is really more like a sermon though it does conclude with correspondence-type greetings and farewells to the audience for whom the sermon-letter is intended. HC speculates loosely that the audience is probably Jewish and Christian (does that mean Jewish Christians?).
Baker calls the letter a "treatise on Christology" and HC reminds of the very Greek style of writing (also the language in which it was written?). The discussion of Melchizedek in Chapter 7 and the following discussion of Christ as the high priest are intriguing though mysterious. I happened to read a bit about Melchizedek here.
Years ago I took a class with the Presbyterians on Hebrews. Memory could be playing tricks on me, but what I recall of the class was a series of meditations on various passages of Hebrews with some kind of recorded New Age type music playing at intervals. It was the most unenlightening class on the Bible that I've ever taken, probably due in no small part to the fact that I knew nothing about Christianity or the Bible at the time. It's unfortunate that this association with Hebrews persisted. The class left the impression of Hebrews as being an utterly inscrutable piece of theology to be avoided if possible. Actually, it's a rather beautifully written book with accessible ideas.
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