Legitimation in the Letter to the Hebrews
The Construction and Maintenance of a Symbolic Universe
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Hardback
£190.00
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Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
ISBN: 9781841272610
Number of Pages: 458
Published: 01/07/2002
Width: 15.6 cm
Height: 23.4 cm
This book adopts an inter-disciplinary approach to the study of the theology, symbolism and argument of Hebrews. Employing sociological models, the book examines Hebrews in the context of the early Christians' construction and maintenance of a social world. In that respect, the book elaborates the thesis that Hebrews was designed to serve a legitimating function in the realm of social interaction, that its theology, symbolism and argument were designed to construct and maintain the symbolic universe of the community of the readers. It is argued that we cannot properly understand the theology, symbolism and argument of Hebrews apart from its first-century context.
Introduction 1-9 Chapter One: Theory and Methodology; Chapter Two: The Search for a Solution to the Problem of the Socio-Historical Situation of the Readers; Chapter Three: The Community of Hebrews as a Sect: Legitimating the Separation of a Sect from a Church; Chapter Four: The Doctrine of the Impossibility of a Second Repentance: A Conceptual Construct for the Maintenance of the Symbolic Universe of the Community of Hebrews; Chapter Five: The Superiority/Inferiority Dialectic in Hebrews: A Conceptual Construct for the Maintenance of a Social World Conclusion; Bibliography