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- Title
>'Here We Do Not Have a City That Remains': A Figured Critique of Roman Imperial Propaganda in Hebrews 13:14.
- Authors
WHITLARK, JASON A.
- Abstract
Does a first-century Christian document that compares Jesus to angels, Moses, and Levitical priests have any concern for the Roman imperial context in which it was written? An examination of Heb 13:14 in light of the ancient rhetorical category of figured speech provides an important test case for demonstrating that Hebrews is possibly more concerned with its Roman imperial context than is generally believed. Over two decades ago, Klaus Wengst, and Gerd Theissen before him, were willing to see Rome behind the critique of 13:14. Wengst, however, provides only a tantalizing hint and little argumentation for his intuition in his one paragraph treatment of this verse at the conclusion of his programmatic book on the Pax Romana and the early Christian kerygma. The limited focus of this article is to present a sustained argument that Heb 13:14 takes up a critique of Roman imperial power. The thesis, then, is that in 13:14 the author of Hebrews has Rome, the eternal city, in his crosshairs and makes use of the popular rhetorical technique of figured speech or covert allusion that flourished under the aegis of Roman rule in order to express appropriately his subtle critique of the official imperial script. Moreover, his audience would have expected and been eager to hear such subtlety in any critique of imperial power.
- Subjects
ROME; BIBLE. Hebrews; NEW Testament criticism &; interpretation; ROMAN propaganda; KERYGMA; POLITICAL oratory; BIBLE
- Publication
Journal of Biblical Literature, 2012, Vol 131, Issue 1, p161
- ISSN
0021-9231
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.2307/23488217