Matthew S Gospel And Formative Judaism

"This is a study of the life and world of the community represented by the Gospel of Matthew. As Max Weber recognized, every community mus order its life, and develp means by which it can preserve and protect itself. It is clear that the Matthean community was in no way exempt from this sociological necessity. Matthew's community, like any other, was confronted with the task of explaining the experiences and convictions of the community to ensuing members as well as developing structures and procedures that would help protect it from alien forces and beliefs. This study focuses on those developments." --

In this meticulously researched study, David C. Sim reconstructs the Matthean community at the time the Gospel was written and traces its full history. Dr. Sim demonstrates that the Matthean community should be located in Antioch in the late first century, and he argues that the history of this community can only be understood in the context of the factionalism of the early Christian movement. He identifies two distinctive and opposing Christian perspectives: the first represented by the Jerusalem church and the Matthean community, which maintained that the Christian message must be preached within the context of Judaism; and the second represented by Paul and the Pauline communities, in which Christians were not expected to observe the Jewish law. Dr. Sim reconstructs not only the conflict between Matthew's Christian Jewish community and the Pauline churches, but also its further conflicts with the Jewish and Gentile worlds in the aftermath of the Jewish war.

A comprehensive comparison of the author of Matthew's Gospel with a selection of contemporary Christian authors and/or texts.

Shows how Matthew's Gospel was shaped by and in response to local regional tensions within Jewish society and culture in the post-70 C.E. period in Palestine.

In this collection of essays, leading New Testament scholars reassess the reciprocal relationship between Matthew and Second Temple Judaism. Some contributions focus on the relationship of the Matthean Jesus to torah, temple, and synagogue, while others explore theological issues of Jewish and gentile ethnicity and universalism within and behind the text.

Following a thorough examination of the structure, language, and argument of Matthew's discourse on parables, Anthony O. Ewherido underscores its primary relevance to the ongoing discussion on the social context of Matthew's Gospel. The convincing analysis of the textual evidence and study of some social and historical trends in Christianity and Judaism in the post-70 C.E. era inform Ewherido's conclusion that at the time the Gospel was written to its predominantly Jewish-Christian community, that community had parted ways with Judaism and stood at an ideologically irreconcilable distance from the «synagogue across the street.»

Matthew's community, contrary to what many scholars believe, was a cosmopolitan, wealthy Jewish Christian community located in Galilee. Gale concludes that Matthew's community was a conservative Christian community located in Galilee that still believed the laws of the Torah were valid and required strict adherence. Gale's argument contrasts with many scholars who argue that the Matthean church was in the process of, or had already abolished, the Torah. Gale uses material evidence to indicate that Matthew's community was cosmopolitan and wealthy, and he argues that the community was also highly learned, comprised of many scribes. Gale concludes that the Matthean church was located near Sepphoris and was a wealthy, urban, and learned community.

In The Gospel of Matthew and Judaic Traditions, Herbert W. Basser, with the editorial help of Marsha Cohen, utilizes his encyclopaedic knowledge of Judaism to navigate Matthew’s Gospel. This close, original reading explicates Matthew’s use of Jewish concepts and legal traditions that have not been fully understood in the past. Basser highlights Gospel sources that are congruent with a wide swath of extant Jewish writings from various provenances. Matthew affirms Jesus’ end-of-days—the coming of the Kingdom—salvation message: initially meant for Jews, it is the Gentiles who embraced his message and teachings that encouraged their faith and simple trust. Matthew’s literary art manages to preserve the Jewish details in his sources while disclosing an anti-Jewish and pro-Gentile bias.