New Testament

Title: "One Sacrifice Once and for All" (Hebrews 10:12). The "Letter to the Hebrews": The First Christian Rhetorical Treatise

With uncertain dating (ranging from early proposals before 70 AD to much later ones, some well after the end of the 1st century), an unknown author, debated origins, uncertain genre, controversial purposes, debated recipients, and even an ambiguous title, the so-called "Letter of Paul to the Hebrews" is often said to be "neither a letter, nor by Paul, nor addressed to the Hebrews." The complex nature of this document makes it an extraordinary case study for understanding the complexity of early Christian writings and for evaluating the rigorous critical-exegetical practices of New Testament studies.
From a historical-of-the-ideas perspective, this document introduces two themes that would become structurally significant in the subsequent history of Christian thought:
- The Christian claim to the priesthood, the Temple, and the altar, asserting that the disciples of Christ are the true—and, after the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD, the only—custodians of the prototestamentary religion.
- The development of a polemical Christology, where the discussion of the Son's function is elaborated on both theological and polemical levels. The assertion of Christological fullness in this text becomes possible only through the progressive deprivation of Israel's providential role.
Alongside one of the most theologically rich pages of Christian origins, Hebrews reveals—more than any other New Testament writing—the irrevocability of the schism developing between Christian Churches and Jewish traditions: the former in their infancy, the latter in their twilight.
In Hebrews, the crisis of the initial missionary proclamation becomes evident, and the intense literary, argumentative, and theological experimentation here undertaken to establish a new Christian discourse, which could no longer be postponed, leads to textually fresh results, exceptionally clear theological insights, and speculative outcomes of surprising ideological violence.
The course will follow three argumentative parts:
Part I: From Jesus' Preaching to the First Textual Aggregations
This part will explore the context and distinctive characteristics of the earliest Christian writings, from Paul to the crisis of the 60s. The role of text and writing in the story of Rabbi Jesus of Nazareth and the initial proclamation of his Easter will be analyzed, highlighting the religious aims and documentary features that set these early Christian texts apart in the ancient historical-literary landscape. The description of these markers will be accompanied by an introduction to the methodologies and critical tools developed by biblical philology and exegesis for the scientific analysis of these complex documents.
Part II: From the Synoptics to the Birth of Christian "Literature"
This section will address the transition from the para-literary culture of the origins to the emergence of a distinct Christian literature, examining the reform, discipline, and survival of the original characteristics of Christian writing from the 70s AD to the 130s AD. Special attention will be given to the so-called "Synoptic Problem," the most notable outcome of early Christian writing practices, and to the gradual emergence of distinctly literary features in Christian production. The process of revising and containing the initial Christian text culture will also be discussed, with a focus on the critical-literary and historical-critical approach of Formgeschichte.
Part III: Hebrews and the Birth of Christian Rhetorical Treatises
The final part of the course will be dedicated to reading and commenting on selected passages from Hebrews. The philological analysis of textual difficulties, critical-literary discussion (with particular reference to the ongoing debate about the genre of this writing), hermeneutics of its content, and the description of its Sitz im Leben (life setting) aim to reconstruct the sources, historical circumstances, reasons, purposes, and contents of this unique writing, which is suspended between epistolary production, homiletic argumentation, and rhetorical treatises.