Appropriating Hebrews’s Scriptural Hermeneutic for the Twenty-First Century

Twenty-first-century readers cannot interpret Israel’s Scriptures identically to how the author of Hebrews did. The contours of twenty-first century worldviews are too different. That said, Hebrews invites those who ＂read after＂ it (in time) also to ＂reading after＂ it (in approach). For those who accept this invitation, this volume’s essays surface four clusters in the overall mosaic of Hebrews’s approach to Israel’s Scriptures. First, Hebrews explicitly, if briefly and partially, states its hermeneutic orientation to Israel’s Scriptures. Second, Hebrews understands history through the proclamation that the author accepts and commends about Jesus. Third, this proclamation creates numerous other implications that Hebrews may or may not explicitly state but that nonetheless shape how the author interprets his Scriptures. And fourth, Hebrews’s exhortation fosters faithfulness in its audience through both encouragements and warnings drawn from Israel’s Scriptures. Attention to Israel’s Scriptures in light of these clusters helps readers to understand these Scriptures not identically to Hebrews’s author but in the same way as that author-namely, in the way marked out by Jesus for those who would ＂come after＂ him.

J. David Stark is Professor of Biblical Studies and the Winnie and Cecil May Jr. Biblical Research Fellow at Faulkner University and a Senior Research Fellow at the Kirby Laing Centre for Public Theology in Cambridge.
Dana M. Harris is Professor of New Testament and Department Chair at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Bannockburn, Illinois.