Death and rhetoric in the Hebrews "hymn to faith"

Abstract

Michael R. Cosby's The Rhetorical Composition and Function of Hebrews 11 provides the most extensive rhetorical analysis of the passage in question. In spite of the title of his book, however, Cosby's discussion of "function" has more to do with the rhetorical function of individual elements of style in Hebrews 11 than it has to do with the workings of the chapter as a persuasive unit. This article attends to the role of chapter 11 in the argumentation of Hebrews by building on Cosby's work through analysis of the techniques of epideictic rhetoric in connection with orations celebrating the dead, and of the inter-relation of the themes of pistis, suffering and death.