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94 LUTHERAN THEOLOGICAL REVIEW XII situations but to use his years of experience to provide support for the congregations. 136 From his letter of 9 March 1763, it appears that Ziegenhagen may have felt that his assessment of Muehlenberg twenty years earlier had been largely accurate. Twenty years of experience in America should have been sufficient for Muehlenberg to be able to handle the situations which presented themselves. Yet, he still came to Ziegenhagen and Francke, who had never been in America, for their advice. His limited information, however, made it difficult for them to provide proper advice, leaving Ziegenhagen to feel that Muehlenberg was more interested in complaining than in solving his problems. What also irritated Ziegenhagen was that he had cause to question Muehlenberg’s objectivity in reporting situations. For Ziegenhagen had a visit from a certain Leimle who belonged to a group of people in Philadelphia who opposed Muehlenberg. Naturally, Leimle’s view of things in Philadelphia would differ from Muehlenberg’s report of them. But this left Ziegenhagen doubly in the dark and did not help his relationship with Muehlenberg. Thus, Ziegenhagen was relieved when Muehlenberg directed his London correspondence to F. W. Pasche, Ziegenhagen’s assistant, and with G. A. Wachsel, the preacher at St George’s German Church in London. The natural development of the Lutheran Church in North America, which began to include pastors who had not been educated in Halle, as well as the advancing age of Ziegenhagen and Francke, meant that by the 1760s little central control was being exerted from London and Halle. To be sure, as long as these second generation Pietists were alive, a psychological tie was maintained and, materially, some help continued to come to North America from overseas. Thus, when Ziegenhagen died in 1776, Pasche informed Muehlenberg of his passing in the following words: “What a great loss this will be for the dear United Evangelical Lutheran congregations and their preachers in Pennsylvania … .” And, in spite of the fact that Ziegenhagen did not have as close a relationship as Muehlenberg had wished, the latter could say of him, “To lose such a spiritual father, counsellor, benefactor, intercessor, guide, etc., in these very critical and dangerous times is no small thing for the whole or for its smallest parts.” 137 Norman J. Threinen, Th.D., is Professor of Historical Theology at Concordia Lutheran Seminary, Edmonton, Alberta. 136 Ziegenhagen to Muehlenberg, Kensington, 9 March 1763, printed in Aland 3:31-41. 137 Cited in Brunner 69.
LTR XII (Academic Year 1999-2000): 95-103 THE EUCHARIST IN THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS Paul Williams he question of the place of the Eucharist in the book of Hebrews has brought forth an extraordinarily diverse range of opinions. The 19 th - century Anglican scholar J. E. Fields, for instance, finds there to be a “continuous line of allusion to the Holy Eucharist throughout the argument of the Epistle to the Hebrews”, 1 a view echoed by such scholars as S. Aalen, 2 O. Moe, 3 P. Andriessen, 4 and especially J. Swetnam. 5 Although the author of Hebrews nowhere refers to the Eucharist in such a straightforward way as does St Paul in I Cor. 11, nevertheless he seems to strongly allude to it in a number of places. One can hardly fail to think of the Lord’s Supper, for instance, when one reads in 10:19 of Christ’s “blood” and “body” in close proximity together as ways through which Christians “enter the Most Holy Place”, themes which are also anticipated already in 9:11. In 9:20, the author alters a quotation of Moses’ inauguration of the Old Covenant from Ex. 24:8 in order to make it quote precisely the eucharistic words of Institution, “This is the blood of the Covenant.” Such verses as these, along with others which speak of “tasting” the heavenly gift (6:4), of “eating” from an altar (13:10), and the often graphic description of Christian worship taking place in heavenly splendour (12:20), give ample room for one to argue for a sacramental eucharistic theme running throughout the book of Hebrews. Nevertheless, the majority of scholars who have addressed this issue agree with J. Moffatt that the author of Hebrews “never alludes to the Eucharist” 6 at all. Such scholars as G. Theissen, 7 F. F. Bruce, 8 F. Schroger, 9 T and R. 1 F. E. Field, “The Apostolic Liturgy and the Epistle to the Hebrews” (London, 1882) v. 2 S. Aalen, “Das Abendmahl als Opfermahl im Neuen Testament”, Novum Testamentum 6 (1963): 128-52 3 O. Moe, Das Abendmahl im Hebraerbrief, St. Th. 4 (1951): 102-8 4 P. Andriessen, “L’Eucharistie dans l’Épître aux Hébreux” 3 (1972) : 269-77. 5 J. Swetnam, “‘The Greater and More Perfect Tent’: A Contribution to the Discussion of Hebrews 9,11”, Biblica 42 (1966): 91-106 [henceforth referred to as “Tent”]; “On the Imagery and Significance of Hebrews 9,9-10”, The Catholic Biblical Quarterly 28 (1966): 155-73 [henceforth referred to as “Imagery”]; “Christology and the Eucharist in the Epistle to the Hebrews” [henceforth referred to as “Christology”]. 6 J. Moffatt, A Critical And Exegetical Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews (Edinburgh, 1924), quoted by R. Williamson, “The Eucharist and the Epistle to the Hebrews”, New Testament Studies 21 (1974-75): 301. 7 G. Theissen, Untersuchungen zum Hebräerbrief (Gutersloh) 77. 8 F. F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Hebrews (London, 1967). 9 F. Schroger, “Der Gottesdienst der Hebraerbriefgemeinde”, Münch. Th. Z. 19 (1968).
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