Corpus-Paul

["David Hindley" <dhindley AT compuserve.com>]

Jeffrey Gibson asks:

<I'm asking whether anyone since (and before) Nairne ever
argued or assumed that the purpose for Hebrews was to warn
Christians against, and/or to call them back from, joining in
the Zealot cause.>

Isn't Hebrews considered relatively well written (meaning
rhetorically cohesive) compared to the Pauline letters? That
rhetorical polish suggests, to me, not a (more or less)
emotional response to a rebellion in Judaea, but a careful
explanation why the author's perspective is better than the
traditional Jewish one. 

Perhaps you should be looking in the direction of the rhetorical
critics? Even if individual critics do not directly consider the
historical situation behind composition, they may comment upon
it and cite secondary sources in the process.

Sincerely,

David Hindley
Cleveland, Ohio USA