The Social Network of the Epistle to the Hebrews: A Proposal
There have been persistent problems when thinking about the intellectual, religious, social, and cultural backgrounds of Hebrews with various ones being postulated and rejected. Different contexts arise in scholarship like a whack-a-mole, popping up, dropping from sight, and reappearing in new places. Contexts are proposed through perceived similarities—oftentimes compelling, but always with a slight stretch, revealing new lights and truths concerning Hebrews but always concealing a lie. Others will point out the differences in order to undercut such possible contexts, as if any two writers ever agree on all details! (As a side note, how often does a pupil sound exactly like his/her teacher? We would expect numerous continuities, to be sure, but also a great deal of development, alteration, and reworking as we find among early Christian texts where we cannot exactly place lines of influence). It is an odd exercise in which parallels equ...