Journal: Priscilla Papers
Volume: PP 07:1 (Winter 1993)
Article: Priscilla, Author Of The Epistle To The Hebrews?
Author: Mimi Haddad

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PP 7:1 (Winter 1993) p. 8

Priscilla, Author Of The Epistle To The Hebrews?

Mimi Haddad

Mimi Haddad is a graduate of Gordon-Cornwell Theological Seminary who is serving as a Field Consultant for CBE.

Priscilla: Christian, wife of a Jewish freedman, fellow worker with Paul, teacher of teachers, church planter — and author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, (a letter whose writer’s name is mysteriously absent)? Was Priscilla one of the most successful teachers, evangelists, and writers in the early church? A survey of Priscilla’s ministry in Rome, Corinth, and Ephesus reveals a woman whose abilities and life’s circumstances beg the question: Was it Priscilla who wrote Hebrews?

Archaeological and Literary Evidence

Archaeological research suggests that someone named Priscilla held a position of tremendous honor in the early church. Her name was found inscribed on Roman monuments, churches, and on an ancient Roman burial site called the Coemeterium Priscillae. One of the earliest churches in Rome was known as the “Titulus of St. Priscilla.” Moreover, a woman named Priscilla was said to have been burned to death in the Ostia Way, and was buried in what was later discovered as the Church of St. Prisca. This story was compiled in a 10th century work known as the Acts of St. Prisca.1 These ancient remembrances indicate that someone named Priscilla had an impressive impact on the early church.

Background in Rome

Priscilla of Scripture was most probably born a Roman Gentile who later married a Jew, as emphasized by Luke who “used an unusual order of words in Acts 18:2 in order to call attention to the fact that Priscilla, unlike her husband, was not Jewish.”2 In 49/50 A.D. the Jews were banished from Rome by decree of the Roman emperor Claudius, perhaps as a result of flaring disputes over the teachings of Christ.3 Although there is no evidence that Priscilla and Aquila were directly involved in the disruption, they did leave Rome, arriving in Corinth about 51 A.D.

Corinth

Like Priscilla and Aquila, the apostle Paul had also recently arrived in Corinth, apparently in need of employment. Scripture indicates not that Pricilla and Aquila were Christians and hence Paul’s visit, but rather that Paul went to see them because they were tentmakers. Scholars posit that Pricilla and Aquila were Christians at the time of Paul’s visit, as Paul does not mention leading them to faith, and it is unlikely that unbelieving Jews would reside with believing Jews. Over the next eighteen months Paul, Pricilla, and Aquila shared tent-making, the...

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