Sawing off the Branches: Theologizing Dangerously Ad Hebraeos

The argument of Hebrews depends in large measure upon certainassumptions about the heavenly world as opposed to the earthlyand about the validity of the principles of the sacrificialcult. An examination of Hebrews 10:5–9 and 10:19–20raises the question as to whether the author has implicitlyand inadvertently undermined those assumptions. That in turnraises the further hermeneutical question as to whether theologicalreasoning is inherently self-subverting.