Hilarion Alfeyev on Pauline Authorship of Hebrews

Image: Dunes, Topsail Island, North Carolina, June 2020

I'm continuing to work my way through Volume 1 of Hilarion Alfeyev's Jesus Christ: His Life and Teaching. In an overall discussion of how the prologue of John and Hebrews serve as "manifestos of the faith of the ancient church" in Jesus as not a mere prophet but as the Son of God (369-370), Alfeyev adds this footnote on the authorship of Hebrews:

Here and later in the present book, as well as in other books in the series Jesus Christ: His Life and Teaching, we will refer to the epistle of the Hebrews as one of the general epistles of the apostle Paul, in accordance with the attribution accepted in the tradition of the Church. An analysis of the polemics surrounding the authorship of this epistle is outside the scope of our investigation (369, n. 8).

It is interesting that though conversant with the findings of modern historical-critical methodology on this subject (the authorship of Hebrews), as on other topics, Alfeyev's orientation is to adopt the traditional perspective.

JTR