Covenant and Sacrifice in the Letter to the Hebrews
Among the problems which Hebrews poses for interpretation, its use of sacrificial terminology must cause it to seem remote and obscure. Although the recent work of social anthropologists on the nature of religious systems has been applied by Old Testament scholars to the laws and symbols of the Pentateuch this is the first sustained study of Hebrews to take account of these theories. Building on the work of such writers as Mary Douglas, Victor Turner, and Claude Lévi-Strauss, Hebrews is...
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This study focuses on the way the Letter to the Hebrews explains the Christian doctrine of salvation.
PrefaceList of abbreviationsIntroduction: Hebrews and historical criticism1Pt. ISociology1The new covenant community13Sociology and New Testament interpretation14A sectarian perspective18The social setting22Exclusion and belonging29Symbols of identity37Pt. IIStructuralism2Hebrews and structural analysis43Contexts and meanings43Structuralism and Biblical study48Structuralism and hermeneutics583Sacrifice and covenant in the Old Testament64Methodology in Old Testament interpretation64The form and function of sacrifice69Israel and the sacred80Sacrifice in Israel90Conclusion109Pt. IIIRenewing the covenant4A liturgy for the Day of Salvation115Religious language and the genre of Hebrews115The covenant relation123Sacred time and sacred place1345The narratives of the covenant149Cultic traditions149Melchizedek164Moses, Joshua and the wilderness generation168Abraham, Isaac and the heroes of Israel172Conclusion1866The testing of the Son of God188A pattern of mythology188The salvation of the seed of Abraham203Jesus among the children of God2097The necessity of blood227The new and better covenant229The symbolism of blood231The place of encounter2348Worship in the new covenant239Communion with God239Gift exchange242Sacred speech245The new priesthood256Conclusion261Bibliography267Index of passages quoted277Index of modern authors291Subject index294
