‘Bear with My Word of Comfort’: Consolatory Strategies in the Letter to the Hebrews

In this study, I argue that the book of Hebrews contains five consolatory strategies that recur in the letters of Cicero, Seneca, and Plutarch. I relate Hebrews to the Greco-Roman consolatory tradition in terms of general modes of socio-literary practice that cut across traditional dividing lines su...

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Dettagli Bibliografici
Autore principale: Pracht, Erich Benjamin (Autore)
Tipo di documento: Elettronico Articolo
Lingua:Inglese
Verificare la disponibilità: HBZ Gateway
Interlibrary Loan:Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany)
Pubblicazione: 2025
In: Journal for the study of the New Testament
Anno: 2025, Volume: 48, Fascicolo: 1, Pagine: 273-297
(sequenze di) soggetti normati:B Consolazione <motivo> / Bibel. Hebräerbrief / Bibel. Hebräerbrief 13,22 / Epistolografia / Cicero, Marcus Tullius 106 a.C.-43 a.C. / Seneca, Lucius Annaeus, Philosophus -65 / Seneca, Lucius Annaeus, Rhetor 55 a.C.-40 / Plutarchus 45-120
Notazioni IxTheo:HC Nuovo Testamento
TB Antichità classica
ZG Scienza dei media; Digitalità; Scienza della comunicazione
Altre parole chiave:B Hebrews
B Temple
B Rhetoric
B Consolation
B Exhortation
Accesso online: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Descrizione
Riepilogo:In this study, I argue that the book of Hebrews contains five consolatory strategies that recur in the letters of Cicero, Seneca, and Plutarch. I relate Hebrews to the Greco-Roman consolatory tradition in terms of general modes of socio-literary practice that cut across traditional dividing lines such as ethnicity, language, and philosophical outlook. In this way, I show how Greco-Roman consolation, which is typically overlooked in scholarship on Hebrews, sheds informative light on the author’s literary strategies and aims. I situate Hebrews against the background of hostilities faced by the original audience and the destruction of the temple, both of which caused distress and disorientation and thereby created the need for consolation. I argue that, given the historical circumstances that provided the occasion for writing and the consolatory strategies the author deploys, consolation is among the author’s primary literary objectives. As a result, I find that the author’s designation of his work in Heb. 13.22 is best translated as a ‘word of comfort’.
ISSN:1745-5294
Comprende:Enthalten in: Journal for the study of the New Testament
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1177/0142064X251314115