Matthew S Inclusive Story

Matthew has been described as an 'inclusive story', in which the experiences of the evangelist's post-Easter church are inscribed in the story of Jesus's earthly ministry. This book explores the inclusive nature of the Gospel by means of reader-response literary criticism. Some recent redaction studies of Matthew are reviewed from the perspective of reader-response criticism. Then, in an attempt to understand the interpretative moves readers make, Matthew's story, story-teller and audience are examined.

When critics study reader-character interaction in Matthew's Gospel, they tend to reach similar conclusions. The disciples are viewed as the link between Jesus and the readers. The supplicants and Pharisees serve as foils complementing the true meaning of discipleship.This study reconceptualizes the readers' role on the basis of M.M. Bakhtin's analysis of the author-hero relationship. The outcome of this reading strategy is that the readers must also interact with Jesus through the limited perspective of the major character groups, momentarily suspending the post-resurrection knowledge that all authority is g ranted to him. By encouraging the readers to identify with the Pharisees, the Gospel is able to constitute the readers as sinners, thereby establishing them in the supplicants' condition of need, and thus as the potential recipients of good news.This is volume 246 in the Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement Series.

In the search for Matthean theology, scholars overwhelmingly approach the Gospel of Matthew as the "the most Jewish Gospel." Studies of its Sitz im Leben focus on its relationship to Judaism, whether arguing from the perspective that Matthew wrote from a cloistered Jewish community or as the leader of a Gentile rebellion against such a Jewish community. While this is undoubtedly an important and necessary discussion for understanding the Gospel, it often assumes too much about the relationship between Judaism and Hellenism (via Martin Hengel). Robert S. Kinney argues for a hybridized perspective in which Matthew's attention to Jewish sources and ideas is not denied, but in which echoes of Greek and Roman sources can be observed, focusing on identifying Matthew's use of rhetoric and its possible echoes of Greco-Roman philosophical disciple-gathering teachers.

Translated by Rosemary Selle The work of one of the world's foremost New Testament scholars, Ulrich Luz, this book gathers eighteen penetrating studies of Matthew's Gospel, available here in English for the first time. Luz's groundbreaking work ranges widely over the critical issues of Matthean studies, including the narrative structure and sources of the Gospel and its presentation of such themes as christology, discipleship, miracles, and Israel. Several chapters also outline and demonstrate the hermeneutical methods underlying Luz's acclaimed commentary on Matthew, for which this book can serve as a companion. Luz is particularly conscious of the Gospel's reception history, a history of interpretation connecting us with the past that determines so many of our questions, categories, and values. Studies in Matthew thus constitutes a noteworthy contribution to biblical hermeneutics as well as to exegesis.

Annotation. Arguing that crowds in the Gospel of Matthew serve as a theological entity that represent the people of Israel (as opposed to their leaders), Cousland (classical, Near Eastern, and religious studies, U. of British Columbia, Canada) explores how this representation sheds light on Matthew's relationship to Judaism. Although Matthew had broken with Jewish leadership, he still had hopes of converting the Jewish people to Christianity and this tension was displayed in the ambivalent manner in which crowds were portrayed in the gospel. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.

Biblical texts create worlds of meaning and invite readers to enter them. When readers enter such textual worlds, which are often strange and complex, they are confronted with theological claims. With this in mind, the purpose of the Interpreting Biblical Texts series is to help dedicated students in their experience of reading and interpreting by providing guides for their journeys into textual worlds. The controlling perspective is expressed in the operative word of the title: interpreting. The primary focus of the series is not so much on the world behind the texts or out of which the texts have arisen as on the worlds created by the texts in their engagement with readers. In this volume, Donald Senior provides an up-to-date introduction to the Gospel of Matthew. The seven chapters of Part One focus on modern biblical scholarship and the interpretation of Matthew, discussing the sources and structure of the Gospel, its use of the Old Testament, its understanding of Jewish Law, its setting as a part of the mission of Christianity to the Gentiles, its Christology, its understanding of the nature of discipleship, and the community from which the Gospel originated. The six chapters of Part Two provide a structured guide to reading and interpreting Matthew's Gospel.

The academy may claim to seek and value diversity in its professoriate, but reports from faculty of color around the country make clear that departments and administrators discriminate in ways that range from unintentional to malignant. Stories abound of scholars--despite impressive records of publication, excellent teaching evaluations, and exemplary service to their universities--struggling on the tenure track. These stories, however, are rarely shared for public consumption. Written/Unwritten reveals that faculty of color often face two sets of rules when applying for reappointment, tenure, and promotion: those made explicit in handbooks and faculty orientations or determined by union contracts and those that operate beneath the surface. It is this second, unwritten set of rules that disproportionally affects faculty who are hired to "diversify" academic departments and then expected to meet ever-shifting requirements set by tenured colleagues and administrators. Patricia A. Matthew and her contributors reveal how these implicit processes undermine the quality of research and teaching in American colleges and universities. They also show what is possible when universities persist in their efforts to create a diverse and more equitable professorate. These narratives hold the academy accountable while providing a pragmatic view about how it might improve itself and how that improvement can extend to academic culture at large. The contributors and interviewees are Ariana E. Alexander, Marlon M. Bailey, Houston A. Baker Jr., Dionne Bensonsmith, Leslie Bow, Angie Chabram, Andreana Clay, Jane Chin Davidson, April L. Few-Demo, Eric Anthony Grollman, Carmen V. Harris, Rashida L. Harrison, Ayanna Jackson-Fowler, Roshanak Kheshti, Patricia A. Matthew, Fred Piercy, Deepa S. Reddy, Lisa Sanchez Gonzalez, Wilson Santos, Sarita Echavez See, Andrew J. Stremmel, Cheryl A. Wall, E. Frances White, Jennifer D. Williams, and Doctoral Candidate X.

Students of the Bible are generally comfortable with their understanding of the command "make disciples" (Matt 28:19). Indeed, most of them would argue that the Gospel writer, Matthew, spells out very clearly the meaning of the term in the Great Commission (Matt 28:16-20) by utilizing three key words, viz., "go[ing]," "baptizing," and "teaching." This point of view is the result of centuries of scholarly opinion that has looked primarily, if not solely, to these three adjacent participles of "make disciples" (Matt 28:19), and not to the entire Gospel of Matthew, for the meaning of the command. This book does not suggest that "going," "baptizing," and "teaching" are not to be considered in determining the essence of Christian disciple-making. Rather, it contends that the three terms should not be our only source of meaning. This problem is tackled herein by demonstrating that Matthew establishes a framework within the Great Commission itself that points to a fuller meaning of "make disciples" in the broader context of his Gospel, and that the Gospel writer expects his reader to draw on his entire Gospel to grasp the full meaning of this important command.