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→Jesus Christ himself may have written the perfect Epistle to the Hebrews in the New Testament, as no other plausible author has been suggested.
:*Was the most perfect verse of the [[Iliad]] written by [[Zeus]]?
:*Was the most perfect verse of the [[Iliad]] written by [[Zeus]]?
:--[[User:AugustO|AugustO]] 01:12, 30 December 2014 (EST)
:--[[User:AugustO|AugustO]] 01:12, 30 December 2014 (EST)
Andy Schlafly, AugustO: —I should like to point out, August, that the setting forth of proposed hypotheses regarding scripture is a legitimate exercise in exegetical analysis and Christian devotion, and they are always subject to review by informed and competent experts in the field. Andy Schlafly's historical-critical proposal is not nearly as extreme as those of a multitude of others throughout history, such as Marcion, and Mani, and Priscillian, and others more recent such as C. H. Dodd. and Dominic Crossan (The Jesus Seminar). Andy's position is simply, "''When the impossible is eliminated, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.''" (Arthur Conan Doyle.) Throughout the history of biblical exegesis, new insights which have eventually proven to be of inestimable value were novel when they were first proposed by their authors, who at the time had no precedent to drawn upon to support their hypotheses and who were also accused of promoting their own "Private Opinions", as in this case. So it does not matter that "''in 2000 years no one has proposed that Jesus wrote the Epistle to the Hebrews''" (actually this proposal is ''not'' new, but you have to dig in the history of biblical exegetical commentary and textual analysis to be aware of this—I strongly recommend you do the research!). Here, then, is my conclusion (and a carefully-reasoned answer to the question, that I posed above, "''by what means?''"):
<br/>Based on [http://biblehub.com/multi/acts/1-3.htm Acts 1:3] we know that Jesus taught his apostles and disciples much more, just as he had promised them ([http://biblehub.com/multi/john/16-12.htm John 16:12]). What did he teach? Certainly he taught everything that we read in the Gospels, including the details of what he experienced and said in the Garden of Gethsemane while the apostles slept, and could not have known what he had prayed, and in the desert with the devil during the 40 days in the wilderness when they were not present as witnesses to that confrontation, and could not have known what was said. <br/>Historically many followers of heretical teachers of esoteric doctrines have attempted to promote their teachings as the secret teachings of Jesus which he supposedly revealed during the 40 days after his resurrection, for example, "''These are the secret sayings that the living Jesus spoke and Didymos Judas Thomas recorded.''" ([http://lifeintegrity.com/Gospel-of-Thomas-Scholars-Version.pdf Gospel of Thomas]). New Agers see the phrase "living Jesus" as indicating that these are the words he spoke after his resurrection while he was staying at the home of one or another of his closest followers.
<br/>At the other end of the debate we have only the tradition of scholars who have repeatedly assured us that "Jesus never wrote a thing", and that he "never handed them a Bible and said, 'Here, preach this'." <br/>If Jesus did take the precaution of writing an authentic explication of his identity as the Son of God superior to the angels, of the superiority of his self-revelation to the law of Moses and of his sacrifice as superior to the ritual animal blood sacrifices of the temple, together with the necessity of remaining faithful to him as the Word of God, and calling on all Hebrew believers to be faithful to "Jesus the Son of God" and to those he had made leaders of the flock, then he would have personally written or dictated to the apostles his core doctrine during the 40 days he presented himself alive after his passion by many proofs, appearing to them, and speaking of the kingdom of God. The other documents of the New Testament were subsequently written under the guidance of the Holy Spirit after the Day of Pentecost, which happened 10 days after Jesus ascended and returned to the Father in heaven.<br/>Now, as for the lack of an introductory address at the opening of this work, an argument from silence would suggest that, as with the possibility of a particular address to the readers and hearers in the opening of the Letter to the Ephesians, it too has been lost. It may reasonably be speculated that a copy of Jesus' letter to his Hebrew followers (who had already been persecuted even before his crucifixion and resurrection, [http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%208:31-32 John 8:31-32]; [http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%209:22 9:22]) was later made and sent out and circulated with current news about Timothy appended to it, just as it appears, in the last 2 verses of the Letter. Textual historians have frequently found multiple instances of additional writings or text appended to the texts of various works of correspondence written on parchment and vellum throughout history: <br/>[http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2002/2002-01-09.html Bryn Mawr], [http://chs.harvard.edu/CHS/article/display/5496 Harvard], [https://books.google.com/books?id=nGQOodBVG9YC&pg=PA2&lpg=PA2&dq=examples+in+antiquity+of+additional+text+appended+to+literary+works&source=bl&ots=qEooGBmXo0&sig=rH74aGsbnFOrB7327jFIJURMs8A&hl=en&sa=X&ei=jt6iVN6KLYn1yAT6gYGoAw&ved=0CEsQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=examples%20in%20antiquity%20of%20additional%20text%20appended%20to%20literary%20works&f=false A New History of French Literature (googlebooks)].
<br/>If the premises on which Andy Schlafly's hypothesis are valid, then the "possibility that Jesus himself wrote the perfect letter to the Hebrews" is not at all untenable. It is not impossible, and it is not unreasonable; it just can't be demonstrated to have been proved beyond the shadow of a doubt to ''all'' students of the scriptures. I trust these comments will help reduce the intensity of this controversy. It is rare in biblical studies that any speculative hypothesis has ceased to be debated because a universal consensus has been reached, and I expect this one too will be no exception.<br/>''Pax vobis. Semper Fi.'' --[[User:Dataclarifier|Dataclarifier]] 12:38, 30 December 2014 (EST)