Diving into the Letter to the Hebrews with Fr. Richard Ounsworth OP
We’ve been blessed this Lent to have lectures on the Letter to the Hebrews with Fr. Richard Ounsworth OP, a Dominican friar of the English Province. Fr. Ounsworth teaches scripture at Blackfriars, Oxford and is an expert on the Letter to the Hebrews, having written his doctoral dissertation on the subject.
We have been benefitting greatly from Fr. Ounsworth’s broad knowledge of scripture as well as enjoying his British humour! (We’ll even spell it the British way just for you, Father!) While the lectures are in the morning for us, across the pond, Fr. Ounsworth signs off just in time to head off for his afternoon cup of tea.
Here are a few things we’ve learned so far:
The Letter to the Hebrews was either written before the year 70 AD, after the year 70 AD, or quite possibly, in the year 70 AD. This was Father’s amusing way of telling us that scripture scholars have no idea when the book was written, although various theories revolve around the year 70 AD - the year the Jerusalem Temple was destroyed. In addition to having no idea when the book was written, we also have no idea who wrote it, or for whom it was written.
While it is named in our modern Bibles “The Letter to the Hebrews,” it was probably not originally a letter, but perhaps instead a sermon.
Hebrews is unique in the New Testament in referring to Jesus as “high priest”. Hebrews is a fascinating book due to its insistence on both Christ’s divinity as well as his humanity. It is because he shares both of these natures that he is able to act as the perfect mediator between God and man, as the perfect high priest.
More so than any other book in the New Testament, Hebrews makes constant use of the Old Testament scriptures in both explicit citations as well as an innumerable number of implicit references. In fact, Fr. Ounsworth says that the book as a whole could be read as an exegetical commentary on these passages. It shows us that we can only understand Christ when we see him through the light of the Old Testament, and that we can only understand the Old Testament in the light of Christ.
We’ve made it through the first three chapters so far and are eager to continue on!
