July.  Book:  Hebrews

I began by reading what my Harper Collins Bible Dictionary has to say about the book, then The New, New Testament.

I had been aware that Paul is not considered to be the author of the book, and that no other author has been named.  I read somewhere that the idea that it was written by a woman, and therefore it was not to be acknowledged as such, was put forward.  I rather like that idea, though Madelon Maupin seemed to disregard it when I mentioned it.

The Bible dictionary says the work reads like a homily rather than a letter, and The New New Testament suggests a teaching or a sermon.  It speaks of some of the text as introducing Greek philosophy.

So, I wondered what that wonderful and inspired student of the Bible, Mary Baker Eddy has to say about Hebrews.  From memory I gather that she was very impressed by some of it.  For instance, quotes appear in her work Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures in the chapter Recapitulation, in response to the question "What is substance?" Here she quotes from the remarkable chapter 11 (on faith): “The substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”  See S&H p. 468 and Hebrews ch. 11, particularly verse 1.

Again, in Science and Health, on page 112: 19-20, we find reference to Hebrews 13: 8 “[Jesus Christ] the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever.”  The marginal heading here is Unchanging Principle, and refers to the divine Principle of healing in Christian Science, and the Christ-idea.

Further on, on page 313, in reference to Jesus the Christ, we find Hebrews 1:9 quoted as poetry:

                        Therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee

                        With the oil of gladness above they fellows.

Biblical phrases resonated with Mrs. Eddy, so that they were part of her language.  She borrows once more from Hebrews (11:10) on p. 575: 12-13) as follows: “a city that hath foundations,” when speaking about the New Jerusalem. 

Joyce Voysey