In Hebrews 12:1-17 the author seeks to encourage the readers by interpreting their sufferings as paideia from God. Scholars have typically interpreted this paideia either as corrective reproof or formative training, but by examining the passage in light of Hebrews' ethics, the ancient practice of corporal punishment, and the author's quotation of Proverbs 3:11-12, Phillip A. Davis, Jr. shows this dichotomy to be untenable. The main problem Hebrews addresses is the danger of sinning, not apostasy per se. Yet because Hebrews rejects second repentance, paideia cannot be corrective. At the same time, ancient education had as its goal moral formation, which always involved the pain of physical punishments. The author draws on this commonplace to suggest that the pain of the audience's sufferings should be taken as a concomitant part of their formation in the righteousness the 'epistle' demands of them.
Born 1985; 2006 Bachelor of Business Administration, Texas A&M University; 2009 MA in New Testament, Biola University; 2013-14 research assistant at the University of Münster; since 2015 research associate at the University of Bonn; 2018 Dr. theol., University of Münster.
In Hebrews 12:1-17 the author seeks to encourage the readers by interpreting their sufferings as paideia from God. Scholars have typically interpreted this paideia either as corrective reproof or formative training, but by examining the passage in light of Hebrews' ethics, the ancient practice of corporal punishment, and the author's quotation of Proverbs 3:11-12, Phillip A. Davis, Jr. shows this dichotomy to be untenable. The main problem Hebrews addresses is the danger of sinning, not apostasy per se. Yet because Hebrews rejects second repentance, paideia cannot be corrective. At the same time, ancient education had as its goal moral formation, which always involved the pain of physical punishments. The author draws on this commonplace to suggest that the pain of the audience's sufferings should be taken as a concomitant part of their formation in the righteousness the 'epistle' demands of them.
