Critics of Christian analytic philosophical theology often claim that it is neither good philosophy nor good theology. Philosophers criticize it because it investigates topics starting from specifically Christian assumptions that other religious and non-religious perspectives find objectionable. Theologians criticize it for its emphasis on using the logical tools of analysis in its investigations rather than stricter adherence to historical or biblical theological systems. Method causes frustration on both fronts. Yet, analytic philosophers can respond biblically to their critics.
This paper will examine the Melchizedekian section of Hebrews 6 and 7 to specifically address the theological criticisms about analytic philosophical theology. I will show that the author of Hebrews provides a model for Christian analytic philosophical theology as he argues, using both scriptural data and logical tools, that Jesus occupies the office of high priest for all believers. In Hebrews 6–7, the author works through fundamental questions about Jesus’s office as high priest as well as his priestly precedence over the Levitical order. Specifically, how can Jesus be a high priest when he is not a Levite, and how can his priestly role take the place of the Levitical high priest established through the Sinai covenant? The author answers these questions by using scriptural data together with logical, deductive techniques. He shows that Jesus inherits a different priestly order than the one described in the Sinai covenant and that the blessing/tithing exchange between Melchizedek and Abram provides the logical basis for believing that Jesus’s priesthood takes precedence under the new covenant. Importantly, the author’s logic about the blessing/tithing exchange does not itself derive from other scriptural passages. The argument in Hebrew 6–8 thus reaches its conclusions about Jesus by using the broadly accessible logical tools that analytic philosophical theologians seek to employ as they investigate other theological topics like the Trinity and the incarnation. Hebrews thus validates the use of analytic methods to pursue answers to perplexing theological questions.