[B-Greek] Fwd: Re. Paulines vs. Hebrews

cwestf5155 at aol.com cwestf5155 at aol.com
Sat Sep 2 11:43:35 EDT 2006


     
 -----Original Message-----
 From: cwestf5155 at aol.com
 To: cwconrad2 at mac.com
 Sent: Sat, 2 Sep 2006 9:42 AM
 Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Re. Paulines vs. Hebrews
 
  I'm actually interested in hearing Carl expand his comments. Generally, Hebrews is recognized as having a high quality of literary Greek along with Luke-Acts and is hailed as the first Christian literary masterpiece by Deissmann.
 
 What evidence we have from the early church appears to indicate that they (eg. Origin) saw a major difference between Paul's Greek and the Greek of Hebrews based on literary style, which they had to deal with if they wanted to assert that it was Pauline. Clement noted the purity of its Greek, but then said that it was Luke's translation of an epistle that Paul wrote in Hebrew! 
 
 One thing that sets Hebrews apart is its use of rhetorical techniques--not only a good understanding of rhetoric, but things such as the use of alliteration and rhythm. Check out M.R. Cosby's rhetorical analysis of Heb 11. His thesis suggests that the features that he finds make ch. 11 prominent, but it isn't inconsistent with the rest of the epistle. Most now note the consequent orality of the epistle--it sounds like it was meant to be read out loud.
 
 Another thing is the high level of vocabulary. While I am very leery of the claims that an author wouldn't/couldn't use a markedly different vocabulary letters written in different contexts, probably the difference between Hebrews and the Pauline Epistles is something that requires a higher reading level, as most of us know. Scholars have done statistical comparisons of the vocabulary (which I read with a jaundiced eye).
 
 The repeated use of "periodic sentences" which involve long complexes similar to Luke 1:1-4 are thought to be part of the high literary style--the hypotaxis that Carl mentions. It's interesting that Carl finds this awkward, which may indicate an artificial (?) attic influence. But then I think that we often find less accessible language (such as what scholars consider appropriate) to be awkward.
 
 There is extensive use of the LXX and of Pauline epistles, but the approach (as Carl notes, the most extended argument in the NT), and other things like the way faith is discussed are very different.
 
 Its structure is different from the Pauline epistles, and, incidentally, from other contemporary Greek and Latin exhortatory letters. L. Wills and others have suggested that the "word of exhortation" (TOU LOGOU THS PARAKLHSEWS in 13:22) was the form of the Hellenistic sermons in the synagogues. However, there are some similarities with 1 Peter and 1 John.
 
 Check out D.A. Penick's 'Paul's Epistles Compared with One Another and with the Epistle to the Hebrews', The American Journal of Philology 42:1 (1921). Obviously dated, but focuses on your interest. 
 
 My participation is invariably a sign of procrastination and/or stress over something like indexing or in this case, the beginning of the academic year!
 
 Cindy Westfall
 Assistant Professor
 McMaster Divinity College  
 -----Original Message-----
 From: cwconrad2 at mac.com
 To: sdchar at gmail.com
 Cc: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
 Sent: Sat, 2 Sep 2006 5:08 AM
 Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Re. Paulines vs. Hebrews
 
   
On Saturday, September 02, 2006, at 00:58AM, Scott Charlesworth 
<sdchar at gmail.com> wrote:

>How would listers describe the differences between Pauline Greek (say Galatians 
and Colossians) and that used by the author of Hebrews? Does the latter by 
virtue of its subject matter draw more on Septuagintal terminology? Of course 
both authors were using the Greek of their day and their vocabulary should be 
found in contemporaeous papyrus documents. But might Hebrews be expected to draw 
more heavily from the LXX pool than the Paulines ?

This is a rather superficial response, but off the "top of my head" what comes 
to mind is (a) a marked rhetorical bent in argumentation that goes far beyond 
what the unquestioned Pauline letters display (esp., say, in 1 Corinthians and 
Romans); (b) a sort of elaborate Platonic distinction between heavenly realities 
and earthly "shadows"; (c) what seems to me at times a rather awkward hypotactic 
concatenation of clauses which are harder to follow.

I would expect Cindy West, who made Hebrews her doctoral focus, can give a more 
meaningful response to your question, and as she has been active on this list
lately, I expect that she will.

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad2 at mac.com
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/
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