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Products>Matthew: Storyteller, Interpreter, Evangelist

Matthew: Storyteller, Interpreter, Evangelist

Publisher:
, 2004
ISBN: 9781441253033
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Overview

For many years, the well-received first edition of this commentary has offered readers a way to look at scriptural texts that combines historical, narrative, and contemporary interests. Carter explores Matthew by approaching it from the perspective of the “authorial audience”—by identifying with and reading along with the audience imagined by the author. This newly updated second edition focuses on Matthew as storyteller, interpreter, and evangelist. It preserves the essential identity of the original material, while adding new insights from Carter’s more recent readings of Matthew’s Gospel in relation to the Roman Imperial world.

Four of the seventeen chapters have been significantly revised, and most have had minor changes. There are also new endnotes directing readers to Carter’s more recent published work on Matthew. Scholars and pastors will use the full bibliography and appendix on redaction and narrative approaches, while lay readers will appreciate the clear and straightforward text.

The Logos Bible Software edition of this volume is designed to encourage and stimulate your study and understanding of Scripture. Biblical passages link directly to your English translations and original-language texts, and important theological concepts link to dictionaries, encyclopedias, and a wealth of other resources in your digital library. In addition, you can perform powerful searches by topic and find what other authors, scholars, and theologians have to say about the Word of God.

Resource Experts
  • Focuses on Matthew as a storyteller, interpreter, and evanglist
  • Separates the commentary into sections for before, during, and after the reading of the book of Matthew
  • Includes detailed indexes and an extensive bibliography for further study
  • Understanding Matthew’s Gospel
  • Part 1: Before Reading
    • A Cross-Cultural Step
    • Recognizing the Gospel’s Genre
    • The Audience’s Religious Traditions
    • The Audience’s Social and Religious Experiences: Part 1
    • The Audience’s Social and Religious Experiences: Part 2
    • Competent to Read: Utilizing Narrative Conventions
  • Part 2: Reading Matthew
    • The Audience and God’s Point of View
    • Maintaining God’s Point of View
    • Shaping Matthew’s Plot
    • Matthew’s Plot: Kernels and Satellites
    • Settings in Matthew’s Gospel
    • Characters: Jesus—Agent of God’s Saving Presence
    • Characters: Jesus—Crucified and Risen
    • Characters: The Authorities—Opponents of God’s Will
    • Characters: The Disciples
  • Part 3: After Reading
    • Conclusion: The Content of Matthew’s Gospel

Top Highlights

“most people lived in crowded multistoried tenement buildings” (Page 69)

“It requires reading and rereading, reevaluating, and redescribing the relationships among various aspects of the text. Such a process cannot eliminate differences of opinion about the work, but it will establish that some interpretations are inadequate in terms of joining the authorial audience.” (Page 7)

“Matthew’ was later attached to the gospel because it denotes a respected and authoritative figure who may have been associated with the gospel’s traditions or a community addressed by the gospel.” (Page 24)

“What sources does the author use? How does an author shape sources to express his theological perspectives? What are the circumstances of the community the author addresses?” (Page 243)

“With its frequent scenes involving numerous sick and deformed people, Matthew’s gospel accurately reflects the reality of Rome’s world (see 4:23–25).” (Page 69)

With a deft touch and an eye for detail, Carter invites the reader to follow him on a well-planned literary tour of the world of Matthew’s Gospel and its story of Jesus. To begin the tour, Carter acquaints the reader with the social and cultural circumstances of Matthew’s author and audience and then shows the reader the heart of Matthew’s story as he discusses its viewpoint, plot, settings, and characters. To conclude the tour, Carter relates Matthew’s gospel-proclamation to various aspects of contemporary religious experience. Writing for students, ministers, and scholars alike, Carter demonstrates a fine mastery of both historical and literary methods. His book will be touted as a worthy contribution to Matthean studies.

—Jack Dean Kingsbury, emeritus professor of biblical theology, Union Theological Seminary

Warren Carter presents a balanced literary, social, and historical interpretation of Matthew. He concerns himself with these three approaches in order to elucidate what Matthew had to say, how he said it, and how it might be experienced today. . . . His book is a good introduction both to Matthew and to the processes of thoughtful reading. Carter’s work may not be the last word on Matthew’s gospel—indeed, he would not want it to be—but it is a work that helps its readers begin their own dialogue with the gospel, a fitting goal for all biblical interpretation.

—Steven J. Kraftchick, associate professor in the practice of New Testament interpretation, Candler School of Theology

This book is worthy of careful study by student and scholar alike. Carter’s is certainly among the most innovative modern approaches to methods of studying the Gospel from a literary perspective, as well as incorporating more traditional (historical-critical) methodological tools. His method is unique in that, though it intends to provide an audience-oriented approach to complement the wealth of material available from a redaction-critical perspective, he pushes the methodological agenda by incorporating both methods. . . . Carter’s is certainly an important book.

—Review of Biblical Literature

This book will be useful to the discerning reader, especially where it provides useful insights into the text of Matthew’s Gospel.

—Reformed Theological Review

Carter’s highly praised introduction to Matthew focuses on the narrative aspects of the First Gospel. The new edition has been reset and edited to include much on the gospel’s social world in an ancient agrarian society. Carter ranks as one of the world’s leading authorities on Matthew.

—International Review of Biblical Studies

This readable and uncluttered introduction, including extensive chapter endnotes, does not stray far from the scholarly consensus but gives it life by understanding Matthew’s audience. It admirably meets its intended purpose as a text for undergraduate and seminary students who are beginning their study of Matthew. More advanced students will also find it refreshing and helpful.

—Journal for the Study of the New Testament

I will find this book very useful as a reference tool and recommend it highly for college courses.

—Catholic Biblical Quarterly

Professor of New Testament, Brite Divinity School, Texas Christian University.

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    $25.99