This volume offers a compact introduction to one of the most daunting texts in the New Testament. The Letter to the Hebrews has inspired many readers with its encomium to faith, troubled others with its hard sayings on the impossibility of a second repentance, and perplexed still others with its exegetical assumptions and operations drawn from a cultural matrix that is largely alien to modern sensibilities. Long thought to be Paul, the anonymous author of Hebrews exhibits points of continuity with the apostle and other New Testament writers in the letter's (or sermon's) vision of life in the light of the crucified Messiah, but one also finds distinctive perspectives in such areas as Christology, eschatology, and atonement. Gray and Peeler survey the salient historical, social, and rhetorical factors to be considered in the interpretation of this document, as well as its theological, liturgical, and cultural legacy. They invite readers to enter the world of one of the boldest Christian thinkers of the first century. Peeler and Gray are well-informed and affable tour guides. They take the reader on a hike through the historical context and the text of Hebrews; they then pause to offer a closer look at one area of growing interest, the Holy Spirit in Hebrews; and finally they point out sites for further exploration in the effective history of Hebrews and suggested critical questions. This is a lucid, accessible, and reliable primer on Hebrews in itself, in its reception, and in contemporary scholarship.