authorship of Hebrews

Juan Stam B (jstam@irazu.una.ac.cr)
Sun, 9 Feb 1997 05:36:25 -0600 (CST)

More important than determining who wrote Hebrews (probably an impossible
task), it seems to me, is to clarify it's context and mental horizons.
Though I have recently read some sources that deny or minimize the
influence of Alexandria in Hebrews (FF Bruce, if I remember right), and
give Hebrews an origin totally unrelated to Alexandria, the Alexandrian
influence seems strong. Though it's thought has basic differences from
Philo, it is much more Philonic in language, style and thought than any
other NT book. Is there any way to tell whether Hebrews was written from
Alexandria to Alexandrians in some other city (Rome?), or from some other
city to Christians in Alexandria? Is it valid to interpret Hebrews as a
quite radical contextualization of the gospel, attempting to "reread" the
faith in strongly Alexandrian and quite Philonic terms?
Greetings, Juan Stam, Costa Rica