This book discusses the history of the interpretation of the Letter to the Hebrews across the last two millennia. Beginning with the Patristic period, essays go on to examine the responses of Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, John Calvin, as well as more recent figures such as Karl Barth and contemporary global interpreters. The premise behind the work is to move study of Hebrews away from the perennial arguments about its authorship and provenance and to instead engage with it from a theological perspective, focusing upon the text's reception history. Consequently the issue of the Christological message in Hebrews is at the forefront and is considered both in terms of the interpreter's context and historical setting. At the end of the book the investigations are summarised and responded to by leading scholars Harold Attridge, Donald A. Hagner and Kathryn Greene-McCreight; providing a fitting conclusion to a radical academic project.

AbbreviationsList of ContributorsPreface1. Hebrews: Yesterday, Today, and Future: An Illustrative Survey, Diagnosis, Prescription - Jon C. Laansma2. Christological Ideas in the Greek Commentaries on the Epistle to the Hebrews - Frances M. Young3. Irenaeus and Hebrews - D. Jeffrey Bingham4. 'Clothed with Spiritual Fire': John Chrysostom's Homilies on the Letter to Hebrews - Charles Kannengiesser5. Thomas Aquinas and the Epistle to the Hebrews: 'The Excellence of Christ' - Daniel Keating6. Christology in Martin Luther's Lectures on Hebrews - Mickey L. Mattox7. The Perfect Priest: Calvin on the Christ of Hebrews - R. Michael Allen8. Typology, the Messiah, and John Owen's Theological Reading of Hebrews - Kelly M. Kapic9. The Identity of the Son: Karl Barth's Exegesis of Hebrews 1.1-4 (and Similar Passages) - Bruce L. McCormack10. The Living Word versus the Proof Text? Hebrews in Modern Systematic Theology - Daniel J. Treier and Christopher Atwood11. Hebrews and the History of Its Interpretation: A Biblical Scholar's Response - Harold W. Attridge12. Hebrews: A Book for Today; A Biblical Scholar's Response - Donald A. Hagner13. Hebrews: Yesterday, Today, and Future; A Theologian's Response - Kathryn Greene-McCreightBibliographyIndex of References to Premodern SourcesIndex of Authors