Matthew Within Judaism

Israel and the Nations in the First Gospel

(SBL, Early Christian Literature Series, 2020)

Editors:
Anders Runesson, PhD
Professor of New Testament
University of Oslo (Norway)
(anders.runesson@teologi.uio.no)
Daniel M. Gurtner, PhD
Ernest and Mildred Hogan Professor of New Testament
Southern Seminary (Kentucky, USA)
(dgurtner@sbts.edu)

Title of Book:
The title of the book is Matthew Within Judaism: Israel and the Nations in the First Gospel. The
main title captures precisely what we want to achieve, namely a volume focused on discussion of
key themes as they relate to the larger issue of the Gospel of Matthew and Second Temple Judaism.
The subtitle (which may still be modified) further signals this dynamic through the word pair
“Israel” and “nations” and echoes main concerns in recent Matthean scholarship. Together the title
and subtitle problematize the bi-directionality of central issues in Matthean scholarship: Matthew’s
Gospel within Second Temple Judaism on the one hand, and Israel and the nations in Matthew’s
Gospel on the other. The themes to be discussed in the book will relate in various ways to this
(narrative) reality.

Description of the Book

As early as the writings of Papias the Judaic character of Matthew’s Gospel has been the subject
of considerable conversation. More recent generations have framed the matter in terms of the
Matthean community and its relation(s) to late first-century Judaism. Though scholarly discourse
has ebbed and flowed, there has recently been a steep rise in interest in Matthew’s Gospel
understood as a Jewish text, and several major monographs have already been authored arguing
such a case from different perspectives, with the most recent one published earlier this year.1
This unusual flurry of output in Matthean scholarship provides an opportune time for a single
volume that addresses the key matters pertaining to Matthew and Judaism. With a selection of the
foremost scholars in the field, we are assembling a collection of essays, arranged thematically, that
address the pertinent issues and their implications for our understanding of Matthew. In brief, we
aim for this volume to be the place to go for scholars interested in Matthew and Judaism.
This volume was borne out of conversations from the Society of Biblical Literature’s Matthew
Section (San Antonio, 2016). Based on those conversations, and the recent developments in
Matthean scholarship described above, we believe the time is right for precisely this type of multi-
authored volume. It will bring together multiple perspectives in one place, all recognizing that a

1
See, e.g., Matthias Konradt, Israel, Church, and the Gentiles in the Gospel of Matthew (Waco: Baylor, 2014); David
L. Turner, Israel’s Last Prophet: Jesus and the Jewish Leaders in Matthew 23 (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2015); Matthias
Konradt, Studien zum Matthäusevangelium (ed. A. Euler; WUNT 358; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2016); Anders
Runesson, Divine Wrath and Salvation in Matthew: The Narrative World of the First Gospel (Minneapolis: Fortress,
2016); Akiva Cohen, Matthew and the Mishnah: Redefining Identity and Ethos in the Shadow of the Second Temple’s
Destruction (WUNT II; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2016); Catherine S. Hamilton, The Death of Jesus in Matthew:
Innocent Blood and the End of Exile (Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series 166; Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2017); Mothy Varkey, Salvation in Continuity: A Reconsideration of Matthean
Soteriology (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2017), Seng Ja Layang, The Pharisees in Matthew 23 Reconsidered (Carlisle:
Langham, 2018).

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suitable reading of Matthew within its socio-historical context requires careful consideration of
the complexities of first-century forms of Judaism. This consistent focus on reading Matthew
within a Jewish context, as well as considering the reception of this text in later centuries from the
same perspective of highlighting its relationship with aspects of Judaism, is what distinguishes this
volume; it is the first book to aim at a more comprehensive approach to such a reading.
The implications of such readings for contemporary readers of Matthew—whether they are
scholars, students, or laypeople—can hardly be overstated.

Outline: Table of Contents and Contributors

Introduction
The Editors. The introduction has two parts: First, we provide a discussion outlining some major
trajectories in NT scholarship more generally, and Matthean scholarship specifically, aiming
at placing the Matthew-within-Judaism perspective in historical and contemporary context.
Then we summarise the volume, basing our text on the 200–300-word summaries which the
contributors submitted with their respective essays but also giving our own perspective on what
has been achieved.

Part 1. Institutions and Law. (This part aims at understanding the basic social and political
structures in the text, as well as behind the text, as they relate to institutions.)
1. James Crossley: “Matthew and the Law: What does it Mean to be “within Judaism’?”
2. Jordan Ryan: “The Sermon on the Mount as Synagogue Teaching”
3. Akiva Cohen: “Matthew and the Temple”

Part 2. Ethnicity. This section moves the discussion from basic socio-religious and political
structures to basic ethnic categories, which saturate the text with meaning. Contributions
approach this dynamic from different angles, together shedding light on larger Matthean
patterns.
4. Anders Runesson: “Aspects of Matthean ‘Universalism’: Ethnic Identity as a Theological
Tool in the First Gospel”
5. David L. Turner: “‘His Glorious Throne:’ Israel and the Gentiles in Mission and Judgment
in the Gospel of Matthew”
6. Terence L. Donaldson: “‘Nations,’ ‘Non-Jewish Nations’ or ‘Non-Jewish Individuals’:
Matt 28:19 Revisited”
7. Philip Esler: “Ethnic Identities in the Dead Sea Legal Papyri and Matthew: Non-Ethnic
Judgment in Matt 25:31-46”

Part 3. Jesus Among Friends and Enemies. Having discussed social settings and ethnic
categories structuring the text, we proceed here to deal with more detailed group-related
components of the narrative, which contribute to how we understand the Matthean world, as
well as how Jesus is portrayed through the prism created by the people inhabiting his world.
8. Matthias Konradt: “The Role of the Crowds in Matthew’s Gospel”
9. Wayne Baxter: “Whose King is He Anyways? What Herod Tells Us About Matthew”
10. Loren Stuckenbruck: “‘For he Taught them as one having Authority, and not as their
Scribes’ (Matt 7:29): Jesus of Nazareth and the Teacher of Righteousness”

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Part 4. Purity and Eschatology. The theme of purity and eschatology is of paramount importance
for our understanding of the theological and ritual (or theo-ritual) patterns of the text as a
whole. Since purity/impurity is key for understanding the text’s portrayal of the Jerusalem
temple and its destruction, and the temple’s destruction itself is a theme interwoven with
eschatological expectations, we focus here on things final, both as they intersect with
purity/impurity, and more widely.
11. Cecilia Wassen: “Moral and Ritual Impurity in Matthew and the Sectarian Literature from
Qumran”
12. Daniel M. Gurtner: “Danielic Influence at the Intersection of Matthew and the Dead Sea
Scrolls”
13. David C. Sim: “Life after Death? The Question of Immediate Life after Death in the Dead
Sea Scrolls and in the Gospel of Matthew”
14. Lidija Novakovic “The Resurrection of the Saints as a Prolepsis of the Resurrection of
Jesus: A Reassessment of Matthew’s Portrayal of the Risen Jesus”

Part 5: Reception: Jewish and Non-Jewish. This fifth and final section aims to shed light on
how Matthew’s book was received in different types of settings, Jewish and non-Jewish, in
different time periods. Contributions here represent only a small sample of key case studies,
which nevertheless places the first-century text, and us as readers of that text, in interpretive
context.
15. Karin Hedner Zetterholm: “The Gospel of Matthew and the Pseudo-Clementine Literature”
16. John Kampen: “A Sectarian Reading of the Gospel of Matthew and the Development of
Christian Antisemitism”
17. Nathan Eubank: “‘Merit’ and Anti-Judaism in Matthew’s Parables Since Jülicher”

Conclusion. The conclusion of the book deals with some of the major issues discussed in the
volume, but with a focus on what may be the next steps in the study of Matthew; it is meant first
and foremost as a forward-looking discussion, based on but going beyond the current volume.
Amy-Jill Levine: “Concluding Reflections: What’s Next in the Study of Matthew?”

UPDATED: 13 AUGUST 2019