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Is it possible for a serious New Testament scholar to accept the apostle Paul as the author of the book of Hebrews?
Over the last few centuries the authorship of the book of Hebrews has been a contentious topic, but lately a strong scholarly consensus has emerged that Paul was not the author. There is no similar consensus about who did author the book; the consensus is entirely negative. Nonetheless, it takes some courage for a scholar to risk his reputation by challenging a so thoroughly assured conclusion of so many scholars.
Yet this is precisely what Dr. David Alan Black has done. In this book he adapts some of his previous scholarly work for a broader audience, demonstrating both how one goes about determining the authorship of an ancient work, and also how one challenges a scholarly consensus.
That is why we have chosen this volume as the inaugural volume of our Topic Line Drives series. Millions of churchgoers look to the introductions to various books in their study Bibles to answer questions of date, authorship, and background. But only those who read more than one introduction will be fully aware of the disagreements among scholars about those conclusions. How is it that scholars make a determination about authorship?
Dr. Black has paid his dues in the practice of scholarship, and here he demonstrates how one challenges such a consensus. At the same time he will guide the reader through the various factors that influence a decision about the authorship of a book. We hope this book will give new life to your Bible study and will challenge you to study further, not just about this subject, but about many others.
This book is for those who want to dig deeper than the notes in a study Bible and who want to understand what stands behind those conclusions.
About the author
Abidan Paul Shah has his PhD in New Testament Textual Criticism and teaches New Testament and Greek at Carolina University, Winston Salem. Also, he has been serving as the senior pastor of Clearview Church in Henderson for over twenty-three years.
David Alan Black has taught New Testament and Greek at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary for twenty-four years. He is the author/editor of numerous books including New Tesatment Textual Criticism, Rethinking New Testament Textual Criticism, The Pericope of the Adulteress in Contemporary Research, and Perspectives on the Ending of Mark.
