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  • From: "Frank W. Hughes" <fwhughes AT sunbeach.net>
  • To: dhindley AT compuserve.com, Corpus-Paul <corpus-paul AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Cc:
  • Subject: Re: [Corpus-Paul] Why was Hebrews ever thought to be by Paul?
  • Date: Sun, 04 May 2003 18:40:11 -0400

This is getting to be an interesting thread. I agree that Hebrews is strange.

I certainly don't agree that Hebrews has the "format" of an "epistle." The only exception to that is chapter 13 which has various greetings. But the beginning of Hebrews is lacking in any epistolary prescript or thanksgiving prayer. That makes its identification of the "format" or "structure" of a letter, to my mind, impossible.

Are you making a Deissmann-type distinction between an "epistle" and a "letter"?

Perhaps Hebrews was thought to be by Paul because of its length relative to the "catholic" letters (they are much shorter than Hebrews, and Romans and the canonical form of the Corinthian letters are closer to Hebrews in length). Or perhaps an affinity with Paul was seen because of its interest in christology. This is a question that is difficult to answer -- and I think this question should be seen as a subset of the larger questions of why the Corpus Paulinum was formed, and what was to be gained by seeing Hebrews as a part of the Corpus Paulinum.

Frank W. Hughes
Lecturer in New Testament Studies
Codrington College / University of the West Indies
Barbados





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