Polemic in the Book of Hebrews. Lloyd Kim

and honor-shame language. Yet de Silva does not explore the sociological function of conflict language in the epistle. He assumes too quickly that polemics are not at work in Hebrews.

1 See G. F. Moore, “Christian Writers on Judaism,” HTR 14 (1921) 197–254; James Parkes, The Conflict of the Church and the Synagogue: A Study in the Origins of Antisemitism (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1961); A. L. Williams, Adversus Judaeos: A Bird’s Eye View of Christian Apologiae until the Renaissance (Cambridge: Cambridge University, 1935).

2 A revised edition was published in 1959, and an English translation was produced in 1971: Jules Isaac, Jesus and Israel (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1971).

3 Marcel Simon, Verus Israel: étude sur les relations entre chrétiens et juifs dans l’empire romain (135–425) (Paris: Boccard, 1948). For the English translation see Marcel Simon, Verus Israel: A Study of the Relations between Christians and Jews in the Roman Empire (135–425), trans. H. McKeating (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986).

4 Lovsky, Antisémitisme et mystère d’Israel (Paris: A Michel, 1955).

5 Especially Rosemary Radford Ruether; see the introduction to Faith and Fratricide (1974; reprinted, Eugene, Ore.: Wipf & Stock, 1996).

6 Gregory Baum, introduction to Faith and Fratricide, by Rosemary Radford Ruether 7.

7 Alan Davies identifies Paul Tillich and Reinhold Niebuhr as two theologians who support the theory of two covenants: Antisemitism and the Christian Mind (New York: Herder and Herder, 1969) 145–46. In addition, J. Coert Rylaarsdam has also promoted this view.

8 Rylaarsdam, “Jewish-Christian Relationships: The Two Covenants and the Dilemmas of Christology,” in Grace upon Grace, ed. J. I. Cook (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1975) 72.

9 Ibid., 79.

10 Ibid., 83.

11 Ruether, Faith and Fratricide, 246.

12 Miriam S. Taylor focuses her research on the early patristic writings and concludes that Christian anti-Judaism was not a result of competition with Judaism for converts, Jewish persecution, or inherited pagan or Christian prejudices. Rather it was motivated theologically to help shape early Christian identity. See Miriam S. Taylor, Anti-Judaism and the Early Christian Identity: A Critique of the Scholarly Consensus, Studia post-biblica 46 (Leiden: Brill, 1995).

13 Gavin I. Langmuir, History, Religion, and Anti-Semitism (Berkeley: University of California, 1990), 282.

14 Langmuir, History, Religion, and Anti-Semitism, 285.

15 A recent article by Clark M. Williamson has brought more attention to the question of anti-Judaism in Hebrews. See Clark M. Williamson, “Anti-Judaism in Hebrews?” Int 57 (2003) 266–79. He frames the discussion on the question of anti-Judaism in Hebrews by distinguishing “yes” and “no” types. While this article is a helpful beginning, it does not distinguish adequately the various approaches used by the “no” types. Furthermore, Williamson does not leave room for an anti-Judaism that is simply a “theological disagreement;” rather he defines the term only in a negative sense, inevitably leading to anti-Semitism (Williamson, 277).

16 Lillian C. Freudmann, Antisemitism in the New Testament (Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 1994) 150.

17 Ibid., 158.

18 Ibid.

19 John G. Gager, The Origins of Anti-Semitism: Attitudes Toward Judaism in Pagan and Christian Antiquity (New York: Oxford University, 1983) 183.

20 Ibid., 184.

21 Samuel Sandmel, Anti-Semitism in the New Testament? (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1978) 121.

22 Ibid., 122. See also N. A. Beck, Mature Christianity in the 21st Century: The Recognition and Repudiation of the Anti-Jewish Polemic of the New Testament, 2d ed. (New York: Crossroad, 1994).

23 B. P. W. S Hunt, “The Epistle to the Hebrews or against the Hebrews? Anti-Judaic Treatise?” SE 2 (1964) 408.

24 John Walters argues similarly in his analysis of the structure of Hebrews. He cites Barnabus Lindars as the one who has rightly identified the climax of the epistle to fall not in the doctrinal sections, but in the final hortatory section; Barnabas Lindars, “The Rhetorical Structure of Hebrews,” NTS 35 (1989) 392 n. 2; J. R. Walters, “The Rhetorical Arrangement of Hebrews,” AsTJ 51 (1996) 59–70.

25 Robert W. Wall and William Lane, “Polemic in Hebrews and the Catholic Epistles,” in Anti-Semitism and Early Christianity, eds. Craig Evans and Donald Hagner (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1993), 173. See also William Lane, Hebrews 1–8, WBC 47a (Dallas: Word, 1991) cxxv–xxxv.

26 William Klassen, “To the Hebrews or against the Hebrews? Anti-Judaism and the Epistle to the Hebrews,” in Anti-Judaism in Early Christianity, Vol. 2 of Separation and Polemic, ed. Stephen G. Wilson (Waterloo, Ont.: Wilfred Laurier University Press, 1986) 1–16.

27 Wall and Lane, “Polemic in Hebrews and the Catholic Epistles,” 184.

28 Lane, Hebrews 1–8, cxxxv. A fuller analysis of Lane’s approach is found below in the conclusion of chapter 3, pages 60-61; chapter 4, pages 95-97; and chapter 5, pages 145-46.

29 See also Marie E. Isaacs, “Hebrews,” in Early Christian Thought in Its Jewish Context, ed. J. Barclay and J. Sweet (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996) 158.

30 Other scholars make this same point. See Tim Perry, “The Historical Jesus, Anti-Judaism, and the Christology of Hebrews: A Theological