Repetition In Hebrews -- By: Nicholas J. Moore

Journal: Tyndale Bulletin
Volume: TYNBUL 66:1 (NA 2015)
Article: Repetition In Hebrews
Author: Nicholas J. Moore


Repetition In Hebrews1

Nicholas J. Moore

([email protected])

The phrase ‘vaine repeticions’ indicts medieval Roman Catholic worship in Cranmer’s preface to the 1549 prayer book, and recurs in the Geneva and King James Bibles to describe the prattling prayers of the Gentiles in Matthew 6:7. These examples indicate both the bad press repetition has had in certain streams of theological tradition, and the ambivalence of such a reception: Cranmer’s liturgy was to be repeated daily throughout England, and Matthew 6:7 forms part of the introduction to the most repeated petition in Christian history, the Lord’s Prayer. This reception has in part been caused by and has in turn affected readings of the Letter to the Hebrews, which speaks of repetition in ways unique in the NT and has often been assumed to denigrate repetition as negative, ineffective, and ritualistic. This study challenges this reading, demonstrating that repetition functions in a multivalent way in the letter. The study thus rehabilitates our understanding of repetition in Hebrews, and thereby lays foundations for the theological development and deployment of this theme in other contexts.

In Part One the question of repetition in Hebrews is approached from three different angles: modern scholarship; relevant texts and traditions extant in the first century AD; and early Christian texts which draw on Hebrews in relation to questions involving repetition. In Hebrews scholarship repetition has received insufficient critical examination, and it has been assumed both that repetition impedes efficacy and also that such an association is self-evident. In fact, repetition should not automatically be associated with ritual (not all repetition constitutes ritual, and not all rituals are repeated) and it can have a range of effects, both positive and negative.

Through an examination of notions of repetition and singularity in a number of representative texts from the Old Testament, Qumran, Middle Platonism, and early Christianity, it is seen that Hebrews’ discussion of repetition is distinctive in its first-century settings. In particular, the idea that the very repetition of tabernacle/temple sacrifices shows that they did not work is not found elsewhere either in contemporary Judaism or in early Christianity, making an account of the meaning and function of Hebrews’ argument concerning repeated sacrifices all the more necessary. A combination of singularity motifs associated with the Day of Atonement and early Christian crucifixion traditions best accounts for Hebrews’ dev...

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