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  • From: "Jon Peter" <jnp AT home.com>
  • To: "Corpus Paulinum" <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: C-P: Who wrote Hebrews?
  • Date: Thu, 3 Jun 1999 18:50:13 -0700


The Catholic Encyclopedia article makes me lean toward Paul as the source of
ideas and a ghost writer as the literary stylist.

http://www.knight.org/advent/cathen/07181a.htmIt

Hebrs. was written in Rome. Paul was ensconced there for 2 years receiving
admiring visitors, so he had the unhurried opportunity to write. The letter
indicates an imprisonment. It mentions Tim. It shows extensive development
of several familiar Pauline ideas. Hence, the author either knew the
thinking, or was Paul himself.

Moreover the author enjoyed stature with the Jerusalem church. Considering
Paul's prolific output when traveling and pastoring, it seems natural that
he would continue this literary inclination and would write to a place where
he had connections and diplomacy to do.

In short, Paul had means, motive, and opportunity. I don't see any other
candidate who quite fits the bill.

His ghost-writer could have been selected from the presumably significant
Roman Church literati on the merits of his/her obvious superior skill -- a
higher caliber resource person than Paul had available earlier .

The ideas, themes and theology in Hebrews were of Jewish interest obviously,
which was not the case in Paul's other letters, and so this radical
difference perhaps allowed Paul greater freedom to philosophize, and this
too may account for the un-Paul-like results.

Even so, when you strip away the elegance, you see that the kernel ideas
you'd expect to from Paul. He is addressing, more majestically than he has
previously had luxury to do, the Jerusalem Jews, rather than writing polemic
to fix troublesome flocks in Greece.

One would also expect Paul to be politic in so writing to Jerusalem, after
the reputation he must have made from his writing to Gentiles.

Last but not least, no less than Clement of Rome (a contemporary in time and
place!) and Origen also subscribe to a Pauline inspiration scenario, more or
less.

Regards,

Jon






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