<p>Sacrifice often connotes death or some form of lack within popular discourse. The association of sacrifice with death is assumed in some strains of the Christian tradition that employ sacrifice within a penal substitutionary account of the atonement. In this framework, sacrifice is understood as death for the purposes of punishment. This dissertation challenges the identification of sacrifice with death. It presents a reinterpretation of sacrifice through a canonical and literary reading of Old and New Testament texts. Sacrificial practice displayed in Leviticus and Hebrews suggests that sacrifice is oriented at life rather than at death. Specifically, sacrifice in Leviticus aims toward a reinstatement of the good order of creation displayed in Genesis 1. The telos of the Levitical cult is humanity’s redemption and creation’s restoration. Both are achieved on the Day of Atonement described in Leviticus 16 as a Sabbath. Hebrews expands upon the sacrificial logic of Leviticus in presenting Christ’s resurrection as the perfection of the cult. Christ’s sacrifice is his resurrected body, not his death. Christians are called to participate in Christ’s sacrifice, and discipleship assumes a form that challenges society’s deathly sacrifices.</p> / Dissertation

The primary goal of this research is to produce a text-critical evaluation of the Pauline Epistles and Hebrews as represented in the writings of Clement of Alexandria, an early Christian theologian who lived ca. 200 AD. The result of such an undertaking will be a refined understanding of the transmission of the New Testament text at the end of the 2nd century, a time period for which we have very little textual data. Unlike our earliest New Testament manuscripts, the text of the early Church Fathers is preserved exclusively in later manuscripts. These manuscripts are often far removed from the original Patristic documents by both date and location. This results in an added layer of textual complexity for which the text critic must account, especially in the evaluation of a Church Father’s citation of New Testament manuscripts. Because of the multivalent nature of the research, the biblical data extracted from Clement of Alexandria’s writings will undergo several stages of statistical analysis comparing it to other early Greek New Testament manuscripts. The resulting data will reveal if the early text of the Pauline Epistles and Hebrews was stable (controlled) or if it underwent changes due to scribal additions and subtractions. It will also shed light on the citation techniques used by Clement of Alexandria, an early Christian reader. The combined data will allow New Testament scholars to generate a more precise critical edition of the Greek New Testament and come to a better understanding of how the earliest Christian communities transmitted the New Testament text.

D.Litt. et Phil. (Biblical Studies) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

In these last days God has spoken his last and most complete word to man in a Son, Jesus Christ. In his person and ministry Christ is the agent of creation and heir of the spiritual and material estate of God. He is the locus of the fulfilment of the revelatory plan of God, and, as such, is superior to the angels, the ministers of salvation within the created order, and Moses, the faithful minister of God's people Israel. Christ not only fulfils the necessary qualification for priesthood under the old covenant, that of divine appointment, but is appointed by God a high priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek. This establishes and authenticates the high priestly office of Christ. Jesus Christ, Iike the high priests of the old covenant, must offer gifts and sacrifices to God. The sacrifice of Christ fulfils the sacrificial code of Leviticus 1-7, his sacrifice being a gift to God, communion with God, and an expiatory sacrifice. But more than this the sacrifice of Christ fulfils the Day of Atonement ritual of Leviticus 16 as well as the covenant sacrifice of Exodus 24. The sacrifice of Christ is essentially once for all, being that unique action which alone can ultimately deal with sin. The uniqueness of Christ's sacrifice depends on the uniqueness of the person of Christ and his superior high priestly office. In his sacrificial action Christ is also the sin-bearer. The high priestly sacrifice of Christ determines the form of the high priestly ministry of Christ, which is also gift to God, communion with God, has expiatory significance, and is a ministry of the new covenant . The high priestly ministry of Christ is a ministry which is continuous through time and is both contemporaneous with and subsequent to his sacrifice. In this continuity through time the ministry of Christ is the foundation of both the faith of believers and their perfection as sons. In the execution of his high priestly ministry Christ is perfected by God through the learning of obedience. The humiliation of Christ and his learning of obedience becomes the foundation of the perfecting of believers. It is as the One who is perfected through suffering that Christ becomes the pioneer of salvation and the pioneer and perfecter of the faith of the people of God. Through faith in Christ the people of God constitute a pilgrim people who, on the basis of Christ's perfection, are themselves perfected and brought to glory. The pilgrim people of God share in the priesthood of Christ and constitute a priesthood of all believers. In their pilgrimage of faith they are to demonstrate their confidence, endurance, obedience, and discipline, and in their running of the race of pilgrimage are to exercise their own ministry as they progress to glory and the sabbath rest of God. The high priesthood of Christ has implications for the common life of the people of God and is at the foundation of our understanding of the Christian life.

This study analyses the intellectual output of Adya Gur Horon (Adolphe Gourevitch, 1907-1972), a Ukrainian-born, Russian-speaking, French-educated ideologue of modern Hebrew nationalism, and one of the founding fathers of the anti-Zionist ideology known as "Canaanism", whose heyday was mid 20th-century Israel. The dissertation's starting point is that if the "Canaanites" (otherwise the Young Hebrews) declared themselves to be above all a national movement independent of, and opposed to, Zionism, they should be analysed as such. In treating "Canaanite" support for the existence of an indigenous Hebrew nation in Palestine/Israel as equally legitimate as the Zionist defence of the Jews' national character (both ultimately constituting "imagined communities"), this work comes to the conclusion that the movement should indeed be classified as a fully-fledged alternative to Zionism; not a radical variation of the latter, but rather a rival national ideology. My chief assertion is that the key to a proper understanding of "Canaanism" is Horon's unique vision of the ancient Hebrew past, which constitutes the "Canaanite" foundational myth that stands in sharp contradiction to its Zionist counterpart. Furthermore, I demonstrate that Zionism and "Canaanism" are incompatible not only because they differ over history, but also because some of the basic socio-political notions they employ, such as national identity or nation-formation, are discordant. A methodology such as this has never before been applied to the "Canaanite" ideology, since most of those who have studied the movement treat "Canaanism" either as an artistic avant-garde or as a fringe variation of Zionism. This study demonstrates that, despite being sidelined by most researchers of "Canaanism", Adya Horon is beyond doubt the leading figure of the "Canaanite" movement. I believe that only by giving due weight to the divergence in national historiographies between "Canaanism" and Zionism can we grasp the former's independence from the latter, both intellectually and politically, without negating "Canaanism's" complex relationship with Zionism and the sometimes significant overlaps between the two. The dissertation makes systematic use of many newly discovered materials, including Horon's writings from the early 1930s to the early 1970s (some of them extremely rare), as well as his private archive. My study thus sits at the intersection of three fields of academic enquiry: nationalism studies; language-based area studies; and historiographical discourse analysis.

This thesis is an investigation of possible significant parallels of the Roman imperial cult (Caesar-Nero) in the book of Hebrews. The book of Hebrews was no doubt greatly impacted by Jewish influence, context, and background. Yet there may be other significant influences that have formed the New Testament book of Hebrews. One such possible influence to the book of Hebrews is the Roman Empire, and more specifically, the Roman imperial cult, the worship of living Roman emperors in god-like terms and the deification of dead emperors. The writer of Hebrews may have used language, forms, and images of the Roman ruler cult to contrast, compare, or clarify their theology and interpretation of Jesus and God. There is the possibility of correspondences between worship of the Roman emperors and the book of Hebrews. Are there significant parallels of the worship of the Caesars to God in the book of Hebrews? Did the writer of Hebrews use illusions, motifs, and images of the Roman emperor cult in parallel to Jesus Christ? Is the Roman imperial cult influence portrayed in the book of Hebrews? If yes, how and to what degree are they portrayed? If no, what are some of the divergences? This thesis attempts to answer these questions in an investigation for possible parallels of the Roman imperial cult (Caesar-Nero) in the New Testament book of Hebrews. I hypothesize there are significant parallels of the Roman imperial cult (Caesar-Nero) in the book of Hebrews. Through my findings I conclude that parallels with words and images on a broad level do exist, but discovery of significant parallels of direct influence were lacking. The parallels between Hebrews and the Roman imperial cult were more likely due to common sources, cultural settings, or universal ideas. The three strongest parallels of the emperor cult (Caesar-Nero) in the book of Hebrews were: divine sonship, enthronement after death, and benefaction. These parallels in combination with the weaker ones do not constitute significant parallelism. The Roman emperor cult does not appear to be a major influence which produced significant parallel for material contained in the book of Hebrews. / Dissertation (MTh (New Testament Studies))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / New Testament Studies / MTh / unrestricted

The aim of this study is to examine John Chrysostom’s views on slavery, specifically in his homilies on the Pauline Epistles and Hebrews. Roman slaveholding is approached as a complex habitus, and Chrysostom’s negotiation with and reimagination of this habitus is examined. The method of enquiry used is a cultural-historical analysis, and the theories of Michel Foucault and Pierre Bourdieu are extensively utilized. Moreover, based on the work of Jennifer Glancy, slavery is approached as a corporeal discourse – one focused on the slave as a body. The discursive formation of the slave-body is further deconstructed into four related corporeal discourses – namely the domesticity, heteronomy, carcerality and commodification of the slavebody. The study commences by revisiting and re-reading Hellenistic, early Roman, Judaistic, and early Christian sources on slaveholding from a cultural-historical perspective in order to reconstruct the main discursivities of the habitus of Roman slaveholding. Then, the first question asked is how Chrysostom understands the domesticity of the slave-body. Based on his exegesis of the haustafeln, it is concluded that Chrysostom negotiates and reimagines the discourse in three ways: a) he proposes a shift from strategic to tactical slaveholding; b) he formulates his theology, especially hamartiology and eschatology, on the Stoic-Philonic metaphor of domestic slavery; and, c) he advises that domestic slaves be reformed by being taught Christian virtue and trades. Secondly, Chrysostom accepts the heteronomy of all bodies, and hence uses slavery as a basis for his ethics. The body is either ruled by God or sin/passions, and the problem of institutional slavery is downplayed. Thirdly, Chrysostom affirms that slaves should remain in their carceral state and stay obedient to their masters, while masters ought to treat slaves justly since they are also slaves of God. Finally, Chrysostom sees slaves as both economic and symbolic capital, and the shift to tactical slaveholding supports his more general vision of promoting a popular asceticism in the city. Chrysostom does not simply accept, ameliorate or reject slaveholding – we rather see sophisticated discourses of negotiation and reimagination of slaveholding to fit in with his wider programme of social and ascetic reform among Christian households. / Thesis (DLitt)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Ancient Languages / unrestricted

Athanasius of Alexandria’s list of canonical scriptures has often been taken as a natural terminus in the long, inevitable process that led to the development of a fixed “New Testament.” Recently, however, a number of scholars have challenged this point of view, arguing instead that citations, canon lists, and manuscript copies must each be placed within their own distinctive social and historical contexts before any judgment about the relationship of a given passage or book to the shifting category “sacred writing” can be made. When this careful attention to social context is applied to the use and reproduction of the work known as the Epistle to the Hebrews, a complex story of the book’s reception emerges. The Epistle to the Hebrews was written about, quoted, and reproduced to a variety of ends throughout the early Christian period. As I show, its reception was influenced not by canonical concerns per se, but instead by the utility of its theological arguments, its shifting relationship to the Pauline corpus, the history of its translation into Latin, and, to a lesser extent, its appearance in lists of sacred scripture produced by fourth- and fifth-century theologians. By placing ancient discussions of Hebrews’ status within bibliographic methodologies, assessing citation patterns in light of broader compositional and citational practices, and situating Christian manuscript evidence within the editorial customs of the time, I argue that the “canonicity” of Hebrews was never seriously questioned. Instead, historical accident, late antique book cultures, changing attitudes toward the function of apostolic authorship, and the varying transmission of scriptures in Greek and Latin conspired to produce a complex textual and material record. As the reception of even this one book shows, the transmission of early Christian writings rarely conformed to the supposedly rational decisions of church leaders about the inclusion or exclusion of certain works.

Thesis (DPhil (Ancient Studies))--University of Stellenbosch, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The compositional strategy, structure, and peak of the book Hebrews are heavily debated. Most scholars analyze Hebrews from only a Western linear approach. Other scholars like Vanhoye, Neeley, G.H. Guthrie, and Gelardini have suggested a chiastic perspective. Despite the insights gained from a chiastic approach, the linguistic analyses of Neeley and G.H. Guthrie posit linguistic peaks that appear incompatible with the chiastic peak of Vanhoye, Neeley, and Gelardini. Neeley, G.H. Guthrie, and Westfall claim to apply linguistic principles to the text, but with quite different conclusions. This study focuses on the form and function of the literary units and the relationship of these units to the overall book-level structure. Initial considerations include defining the individual literary units and determining the significance of lexical and syntactical recurrences within the pericopes. Such recurrences are important features for determining textual boundaries, transitions, and compositional patterns. Subsequently, this study evaluates literary units in relation to each other in light of book-level correspondences (syntactical and semantic) as a means of positing an overall structure and compositional strategy for the book of Hebrews. Unlike the linear study of Westfall, the relationships of non-sequential literary units are considered as well as sequential units (i.e., both linear and concentric patterns). In addition to the analysis of the form and function of chiastic and parallel literary units, this study also considers the rhetorical function and significance of the central placement of OT quotations within those structures. Although the OT quotations often occur in the center of the chiastic structures, imperativals (imperatives, prohibitive subjunctives, and hortatory subjunctives) do not generally occur in the chiastic centers, but in the outer components of the chiastic structures. Such a perspective is helpful for understanding where the author is placing emphasis as well as for clarifying the relationship between the epideictic (doctrinal) and deliberative (hortatory) sections. Contrary to G.H. Guthrie’s and Westfall’s emphases on the deliberative sections, this study contends that Hebrews contains a coherent concentric pattern (involving a central thematic peak, dual hortatory climaxes, and dual apexes) as part of an overall compositional strategy. This is not to suggest that the epideictic sections are more important than the explicit exhortations found in the deliberative sections, but that the hortatory essence of Hebrews is rooted in both the theological truth of Jesus’ role as the great high priest and the function of his everlasting sacrifice in the heavenly tabernacle. The author weaved these texttypes together to deliver an even more powerful call to faithfulness. This study also challenges Nauck’s assertion that Heb 4:14–10:31 is one integral section. One of the key elements of this challenge is the unique interpretation of Heb 5:1-10 as foreshadowing the topic found in Hebrews 7. Understanding the foreshadowing essence of Heb 5:1-10 opens the means of interpreting Heb 4:14-16 and 10:19-22 as hortatory bookends to the central theological sections of Hebrews as opposed to designating Nauck’s lexical parallels as an inclusio. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Daar word hewig gedebatteer oor die komposisionele strategie, struktuur en piek van die Hebreër-boek. Die meeste geleerdes analiseer Hebreërs slegs vanuit ‘n Westerse liniêre benadering. Ander geleerdes soos Vanhoye, Neeley, G.H. Guthrie en Gelardini het ‘n chiastiese perspektief voorgestel. Ten spyte van die insigte wat ‘n chiastiese benadering opgelewer het, poneer die linguistiese analises van Neeley en G.H. Guthrie linguistiese pieke wat onversoenbaar met die chiastiese piek van Vanhoye, Neeley and Gelardini lyk. Neeley, G.H. Guthrie en Westfall maak daarop aanspraak dat hulle linguistiese beginsels op die teks toepas, maar met uiteenlopende gevolgtrekkings. Hierdie studie fokus op die vorm en funksie van die literêre eenhede in die Hebreërboek en die verhouding van hierdie eenhede tot die oorkoepelende boek-vlak struktuur. Aanvanklike oorwegings sluit die omskrywing van die individuele literêre eenhede en die bepaling van die belang van leksikale en sintaktiese herhalings binne die perikope in. Sulke herhalings is van groot belang om die tekstuele grense, oorgange en komposisionele patrone te bepaal. Daarna word die literêre eenhede in verhouding tot mekaar in die lig van boek-vlak (sintaktiese en semantiese) ooreenkomste gëevalueer in ‘n poging om ‘n oorkoepelende struktuur en komposisionele strategie vir die Hebreërs-boek te poneer. Anders as die liniêre studie van Westfall word die verhoudings tussen nie-opeenvolgende sowel as opeenvolgende eenhede in ag geneem (d.w.s. beide liniêre en konsentriese patrone). Benewens die vorm en funksie van chiastiese en parallele literêre eenhede word die retoriese funksie en belang van die sentrale stelling van OT aanhalings binne hierdie strukture ook in oënskou geneem. Hoewel die OT aanhalings dikwels in die kern van die chiastiese strukture voorkom, word bevelsvorme (imperatiewe, verbodsubjuntiewe en aansporende subjunktiewe) nie normaalweg in die chiastiese kern aangetref nie, maar in die buitenste komponente van ‘n chiastiese struktuur. Hierdie insig help ons verstaan waar die skrywer die nadruk plaas en bied ook klarigheid oor die verhouding tussen die epideiktiese (leerstellige) en deliberatiewe (aansporende) gedeeltes. In teenstelling met G.H. Guthrie en Westfall se nadruk op die deliberatiewe gedeeltes word in hierdie studie aangevoer dat Hebreërs ‘n koherente konsentriese patroon (met ‘n sentrale tematiese piek, tweevoudige aanporende klimakse en tweevoudige kruine) bevat as deel van ‘n oorkoepelende komposisionele strategie. Dit beteken nie dat die epideiktiese gedeeltes belangriker is as die eksplisiete aansporings in die deliberatiewe gedeeltes nie, maar wel dat die aansporende essensie van Hebreërs gewortel is in sowel die teologiese waarheid van Jesus se rol as groot hoëpriester asook in die funksie van sy ewigdurende offerande in die hemelse tabernakel. Die skrywer het die onderskeie tekstipes verweef om ‘n nog sterker oproep tot getrouheid te maak. Hierdie studie betwis ook Nauck se bewering dat Heb 4:14–10:31 een integrale gedeelte vorm. Een van die sleutelelemente van die kritiek is die unieke interpretasie dat Heb 5:1-10 die tema wat in Hebreërs 7 voorkom, voorafskadu. Insig in die voorafskaduende rol van Heb 5:1-10 bied die geleentheid om Heb 4:14-16 en 10:19- 22 as aansporende boekstutte vir die sentrale teologiese gedeeltes van Hebreërs te interpreteer instede daarvan om Nauck se leksikale parallele as inclusio te beskryf.

Thesis (DLitt (Ancient Studies. Biblical Languages))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / The Vorlage of the explicit quotations in Hebrews remains an unresolved matter to date – despite the fact that it is an important pre-requisite before one can attempt to investigate the function of the quotations within their NT context. The selection, origin and version of the explicit quotations is a neglected aspect of previous studies. This Quest attempted to address these matters mainly from a tradition historical and a text critical angle. It follows the ground plan of Hebrews‘ own presentation of two sets of quotations in pairs – the first set consisting of hymnic texts and the second a quotation from the Torah, which is alternated between quotations from the Psalms and from the Prophets. The investigation considers each quotation in the light of possible alternative Vorlage(n) to those of the printed versions and interacts with previously proposed hypotheses – such as the ―Testimony Book‖ hypothesis, liturgy-, homily-, and midrash hypotheses. It became clear during the course of the investigation that, although Hebrews might have known a large number of quotations from the early Jewish (DSS; Philo) and early Christian (Paul, Gospels) traditions, he also expanded on some of those and added some other (mainly the longer) quotations. The latter include, for instance, Pss 40(39), 95(94), and Jer 31(38) – often accompanied by the author‘s reworking and own midrash on the passage with ring compositional features. The quotations are almost always introduced with a verb of saying and with a large number of them being presented in combination with a reference to an existing promise of God. Regarding the Dead Sea Scrolls, there are a number of similarities between particularly 4QMidrEschat, the Hodayot and the Pesharim – documents that are representative of a hermeneutic tradition of creatively working with and interpreting OT passages. Almost all of the Torah quotations are brief and (including the quotation from Prov 3) occurred already in the works of Philo of Alexandria, mainly in his Legum allegoriae 3. Their readings agree with each other – both of them often against the LXX and MT versions, which might be an indication of another version (the ―Old Greek?‖) that was used by both. Quotations that show an overlap with the then existing NT literature at the time that Hebrews wrote, are almost exclusively to be found in Romans and 1 Corinthians. The early Christian liturgical formula of the institution of the Eucharist seemed to have played a role in at least the quotation pair Exod 24:8 (―blood‖) and Ps 40:7-9 (―body‖).