Trotter Andrew H._Interpreting the Epistle to the Hebrews.pdf

(149 KB) Pobierz
Journal for the Study of the
New Testament
http://jnt.sagepub.com
TROTTER, Andrew H., Jr, Interpreting the Epistle to the Hebrews
(Guides to New Testament Exegesis; Grand Rapids: Baker,
1997), pp. 222. $13.99. ISBN 0-8010- 2095-6 (paper)
Brook W.R. Pearson, Stanley E. Porter, Jacqueline C.R. de Roo and Ruth
Anne Reese
Journal for the Study of the New Testament
2000; 22; 126
DOI: 10.1177/0142064X0002207521
The online version of this article can be found at:
http://jnt.sagepub.com
Published by:
http://www.sagepublications.com
Additional services and information for
Journal for the Study of the New Testament
can
be found at:
Email Alerts:
http://jnt.sagepub.com/cgi/alerts
Subscriptions:
http://jnt.sagepub.com/subscriptions
Reprints:
http://www.sagepub.com/journalsReprints.nav
Permissions:
http://www.sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav
Downloaded from
http://jnt.sagepub.com
by Dolly Chaaya on May 17, 2008
© 2000 SAGE Publications. All rights reserved. Not for commercial use or unauthorized
distribution.
126
of biblical
studies,
for
both
testaments.
Does
it
succeed? I
am
not
sure.
Trebolle
Barrera’s
stated intention
is
to
write
a
textbook that
will
overcome
the
fragmentation
that he
laments
has taken
over
the
discipline
of biblical
studies.
This
volume
certainly
tries
to
be
comprehensive,
including
material
on
both
testa-
ments,
their
contexts
in the
ancient
world,
the
history
of their
writing,
transmission
and
translation,
their
languages,
the establishment and
editing
of their
texts,
and
their
interpretation
through
the
course
of the last almost three
millennia.
Even in
a
book of
this
length,
it
is inevitable that
most
of the
subjects
cannot
be treated
at
the
length
they
deserve.
Nevertheless,
Trebolle
Barrera
does
a
commendable
job
of
trying
to
represent
the
current state
of
play, supplementing
his
descriptions
with
highly
useful
bibliographies.
Since
the
volume
is
more
of
a
report
on
the
state
of
discussion,
there
are
a
number
of debatable conclusions.
For
example,
Trebolle
Barrera has trouble
deciding
whether
Judaism
is
more
Jewish
or
Hellenistic,
finally
deciding
that the Jewish
hypothesis
wins
out
in
the
light
of the
discovery
of the
Qumran
documents
(of
which he
is
an
editor).
He
believes
that Hebrew
was
the
major language
in Palestine
of
the
first
century.
Even
though
he
recognizes
the
Greek of the New Testament
as
part
of
the
koine,
he also wishes
to note
the
numer-
ous
Semitisms.
Regarding
textual
criticism,
even
though
he
discusses
the various
papyri
and
parchments,
when
it
comes
to
discussing
the
Greek
text
it
is
in
terms
of
eclectic
texts,
with
no
significant
notice
of
the
questions
this
raises,
especially
as
opposed
to
the
single
text
tradition
of
the
Old Testament/Hebrew Bible. Of
course,
most
of his
judgments
are
sound
enough,
and
especially
insightful
is his discussion
of
the
relationship
of
the
Septuagint
to
its
environment.
SEP
the
discipline
TROTTER,
Andrew
H.,
Jr,
Interpreting
the
Epistle
to
the Hebrews
(Guides
to
New
Testament
Exegesis;
Grand
Rapids:
Baker,
1997),
pp.
222.
$13.99.
ISBN 0-8010-
2095-6
(paper).
This volume is
clearly
one
of
the
better
ones
in this series of
student
guides.
This
is
probably
in
part
due
to
the fact
that
it is the
largest
to
date,
and devoted
to
only
one
book of the New Testament rather than
to
three
Gospels
or
all of
the Pauline
letters.
A
further feature
of the
volume is that
Trotter does
not
hesitate
to
include
discussion
of
recent
work in Greek
language
and
linguistics
in his
discussion,
something
that textbooks and books for students often
shy
away from. Trotter
presents
his
material with
a
commendable
sense
of
humour that enhances the
overall
readability
of
the volume.
He
divides
his
analysis
into
two
parts,
the first
on
the
background
of
Hebrews and the second
on
its
exegesis.
In the
first
part,
he
begins
with
a
discussion of
the
place
of
writing,
destination
and date of
compo-
sition. Even
though
he
opts
for
a
date
pre-AD
70,
he does
not
do
so on
the basis of
the
use
of the
present
tense
form
when
referring
to
the
Temple, noting
that verb
tenses
in
Greek
are
aspectual
and
not
primarily
time-based.
Regarding authorship,
he
weighs Apollos,
Barnabas and Paul
most
seriously,
but is
content to
conclude
that the author
was
a
well-educated
second
generation
Christian,
rather than
name
him
(he
rejects
the idea of
a woman
such
as
Priscilla
writing
Hebrews
on
the
basis
Downloaded from
http://jnt.sagepub.com
by Dolly Chaaya on May 17, 2008
© 2000 SAGE Publications. All rights reserved. Not for commercial use or unauthorized
distribution.
127
of
11.32).
With
regard
to
genre,
Trotter
sees
the
book
as
a
form
of
sermon.
On
the
basis
of his
reconstruction of
the
abilities
of the
author,
he
also
characterizes this
sermon
in
terms
of
categories
of ancient
rhetoric,
concentrating
upon
diatribe
and
He also
notes
that the book
has also
been
re-cast
in
the
form of
a
letter.
When it
comes
to
outlining
the
structure
of the
letter, however,
Trotter
follows
a
similar
form
to
that
of
George
Guthrie
(The
Structure
of
Hebrews:
A Text-Lin-
gui.stic
Analysis
[NovTSup,
73;
Leiden: E.J.
Brill,
1994]),
which
utilizes
the tradi-
tional
categories
of doctrine
and
exhortation,
rather than
an
outline that
reflects
rhetorical
categories,
an
epistolary
outline,
or even some
form of
more
innovative
discourse
analysis.
In
a
final section
on
the
Greek
text,
Trotter
begins
with
a
section
on
textual
criticism that is
sure
to
prove
a
challenge
to most
students,
because he
lists textual variants but does
not
give principles
by
which
they
can
be
adjudicated.
In the
second
part,
Trotter first discusses
vocabulary,
providing
useful
and
neces-
sary
caveats
regarding
word
studies,
but engages in
some
unprincipled
discussion
of
unique
vocabulary,
of which
recent
study
has shown
the limitations of
such
methods.
Discussion
of
grammatical analysis, unfortunately
in my
opinion,
gets
diverted from
the heart of the issue
by discussing
sentence
diagramming, something
that
other
volumes
in this series and
in certain
exegetical
circles
place
too
much
value
upon. I
am
sympathetic
to
Trotter’s
wanting
students
to
use
grammars, but
saying
that
using
them
in any
but
a
reference
fashion
is unnecessary
perpetuates
the
problem
that
interpreters-including
many scholars-have
no
conception
of
a
grammatical
model
or
framework and end up
using
the
grammars
to
reinforce
their
cherished
exegetical
conclusions. In
discussing
style,
Trotter
first
looks
at
instances
of classical rhetorical
style,
and then
discusses the
question
of
the
Semitic
elements
to
the
style
of Hebrews.
Here he
rightly rejects
the
hypothesis
of
Nigel
Turner
regarding
a
’Jewish
Greek’
to
be found in
Hebrews,
re-iterating
the
opinion
that the
author
was
trained
in rhetoric
(something
that does
not
necessarily
follow from
the
stylistic
features
or
other
features that Trotter
notes).
In the last
section,
on
the-
ology,
Trotter first faces the
question
of whether authorial
or
readerly
interests
predominate, claiming
to
opt
for
both,
although
wanting
to
ensure
that
authorial
intention is
respected.
He then
treats
four
theological
issues: the
use
of
the
Old
Testament,
Christology, eschatology,
and
sanctification and perseverance. These
treatments
are
brief,
and the last
wisely
does
not
press the evidence
beyond
what
rhythm.
the
text
can
say.
SEP
=
BP
Brook W.R. Pearson
SEP =
Stanley
E. Porter
JCRR
=
Jacqueline
C.R.
de Roo
RAR = Ruth
Anne
Reese
Downloaded from
http://jnt.sagepub.com
by Dolly Chaaya on May 17, 2008
© 2000 SAGE Publications. All rights reserved. Not for commercial use or unauthorized
distribution.

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika:

Zgłoś jeśli naruszono regulamin