REWRITING PAUL: Original Translations of the Letters of Paul (1 Thessalonians, Galatians, Philippians, Philemon, and Romans), 2019
Popular translations of the Bible are too generic for anyone to reach a definitive interpretation... more Popular translations of the Bible are too generic for anyone to reach a definitive interpretation and often perpetuate old concepts. Tim Seid takes a bold approach to Christian origins and offers fresh translations of the earliest of the New Testament authors.In the first section of Rewriting Paul, Seid explains the foundation for a new understanding of Paul who remains a committed Jew but announces to the gentile peoples the good news that God has overlooked their sins because of the death of Jesus and has included them among the people of God. Paul writes letters of moral exhortation to household assemblies to encourage them to maintain their progress through philosophical practices to reach their greatest potential in a flourishing life.Seid provides an overview of his interpretation of 1 Thessalonians, Galatians, Philippians, Philemon, and Romans based on his translations in appendix one. The paraphrase style of the translations helps the reader to see how to read Paul within this new interpretation.
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To say that Hebrews contains comparison and is concerned with showing the superiority of Christ is tantamount to stating the obvious. Commentators repeatedly describe Hebrews in this way. Nevertheless, they usually refer to comparison in a non-technical sense. Few recognize that comparison (synkrisis) was a distinct literary device used within speeches and as a separate literary genre in itself. This is due, in part, to the lack of research on synkrisis and to the tendency of scholars to place the writing of Hebrews in a Jewish milieu. The preponderance of literature on Hebrews concentrates on its stylistic and structural similarities with a body of Jewish commentary texts labeled midrash (pl. midrashim). This includes the type of argumentation often referred to as rabbinic hermeneutics. The assumption is that this form and methodology, though not written down until later, existed in oral form in Hebrew and Aramaic in the first century of the Common Era. While it may be a valid assumption, there is great difficulty in being able to determine how widespread it existed, how well developed it was, and how it relates to other types of literature from the first century.
Although Jewish themes pervade the book of Hebrews, it is written in a classical Greek style. Many of the concepts in Hebrews are associated with the platonizing Jew, Philo of Alexandria. It is clear in several places that the author of Hebrews bases his discussion of the scriptures on a Greek translation similar to what we have in the documents called the Septuagint (LXX). In the light of this, it is reasonable to think that one should also look to Greek literature and rhetoric for an understanding of the genre and structure of Hebrews.
My primary focus is on the form of synkrisis, how it was described and how it was practiced. Then I will show that Hebrews belongs to this type of literature. Hebrews is a written speech of the type called epideictic. As such, it bears a relationship to encomiastic literature, a kind of epideictic, having the form of a synkrisis. The goal of this synkrisis is to encourage the audience to endure hardships and remain faithful, and to warn them of the God’s judgment against the disobedient. The author takes models from the scriptures in order to illustrate the greater help made available through Christ the enthroned Son, the greater hope through Christ the eternal high priest, and the greater harm which will come to those who are found faithless.
I will show in a general overview that all of Hebrews belongs to this synkritic genre. The author of Hebrews uses educational metaphors related to elementary education and even calls his work a comparison (Heb 9:9). This will provide the setting for a closer reading of Hebrews 7 in which I will demonstrate how my approach gives a clearer understanding of the flow of the argument, solves interpretive difficulties, and presents a better translation of key passages.
Books by Timothy Seid
To say that Hebrews contains comparison and is concerned with showing the superiority of Christ is tantamount to stating the obvious. Commentators repeatedly describe Hebrews in this way. Nevertheless, they usually refer to comparison in a non-technical sense. Few recognize that comparison (synkrisis) was a distinct literary device used within speeches and as a separate literary genre in itself. This is due, in part, to the lack of research on synkrisis and to the tendency of scholars to place the writing of Hebrews in a Jewish milieu. The preponderance of literature on Hebrews concentrates on its stylistic and structural similarities with a body of Jewish commentary texts labeled midrash (pl. midrashim). This includes the type of argumentation often referred to as rabbinic hermeneutics. The assumption is that this form and methodology, though not written down until later, existed in oral form in Hebrew and Aramaic in the first century of the Common Era. While it may be a valid assumption, there is great difficulty in being able to determine how widespread it existed, how well developed it was, and how it relates to other types of literature from the first century.
Although Jewish themes pervade the book of Hebrews, it is written in a classical Greek style. Many of the concepts in Hebrews are associated with the platonizing Jew, Philo of Alexandria. It is clear in several places that the author of Hebrews bases his discussion of the scriptures on a Greek translation similar to what we have in the documents called the Septuagint (LXX). In the light of this, it is reasonable to think that one should also look to Greek literature and rhetoric for an understanding of the genre and structure of Hebrews.
My primary focus is on the form of synkrisis, how it was described and how it was practiced. Then I will show that Hebrews belongs to this type of literature. Hebrews is a written speech of the type called epideictic. As such, it bears a relationship to encomiastic literature, a kind of epideictic, having the form of a synkrisis. The goal of this synkrisis is to encourage the audience to endure hardships and remain faithful, and to warn them of the God’s judgment against the disobedient. The author takes models from the scriptures in order to illustrate the greater help made available through Christ the enthroned Son, the greater hope through Christ the eternal high priest, and the greater harm which will come to those who are found faithless.
I will show in a general overview that all of Hebrews belongs to this synkritic genre. The author of Hebrews uses educational metaphors related to elementary education and even calls his work a comparison (Heb 9:9). This will provide the setting for a closer reading of Hebrews 7 in which I will demonstrate how my approach gives a clearer understanding of the flow of the argument, solves interpretive difficulties, and presents a better translation of key passages.