Hebrews authorship

From: Walter Wagner (wagner@dns.enter.net)
Date: Sun Feb 08 2004 - 19:04:55 EST


A new member is climbing on the list. My field is early Christianity
- second century variety. Greetings to Edgar Krentz and Charles
Puskas.

Concerning Hebrews authorship:
Early patristic figures contested Pauline authorship. Tertullian
ascribed it to Barnabas. See also Eusebius (Ecclesiastical History)
for doubts by the church in Rome about Pauline authorship.

I have a vague memory that Luther also ascribed it to Apollos.
Presumably this is logical because Apollos came from Alexandria, was
well-versed in Scripture. That combination might argue for calling
him the author on the basis of allegories and extended images.
Clement of Alexandria went in for the same kind of allegories in the
second century.

Luther relegated Hebrews to the last four books in his arrangement of
the NT canon because he said that it James, Jude and Revelation were
of dubious authorship and not universally received in the early
church. In his preface to the translation of Hebrews he wrote, "Who
wrote it is not known, and will probably not be known for a while; it
makes no difference." So much for scholarship!

Calvin "can adduce no reason to show that Paul ws its author" His
analysis in the Commentary on Hebrews is rather astute.

I doubt the Priscilla attribution. I think she was far more
interesting and dynamic a person to get stuck in the temple imagry.

It is somewhat disconcerting to have the large number of Hebrews
pericopes in the ecumenical lectionary.

Walter Wagner wagner@enter.net
Christ Lutheran Church, Allentown, PA

Moravian Seminary, moonlighter



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