Legitimation in the Letter to the Hebrews: The Construction and Maintenance of a Symbolic Universe (Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement)

Lutisone Salevao
Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd., 16/05/2002
EAN 9781841272610, ISBN10: 1841272612

Hardcover, 350 pages, 23.4 x 15.8 x 3 cm
Language: English

This study adopts an inter-disciplinary approach to 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 1st-century context.