The Word of the cross is a living word, crying out for reinterpretation as life takes new shape and expression. Reinterpreting the Gospel was particularly compelling for Matthew's church because his Christians lived in a time of profound transition. The Passion of Jesus, then, was not simply a story of suffering out of the past but a point of identification for the Christians of Matthew's own time. For us twentieth-century Christians, who also know the peculiar suffering and hope of living in an age that is both dying and being born, the Passion of Jesus according to Matthew has special meaning.

"The Passion is the climactic event in each of the gospels. These volumes elucidate the passion in its historical background and explore its theological breadth and depth."--Back cover

Matthew wrote his Gospel from his perspective as a Jew. It is with sensitivity to this perspective that Father Harrington undertakes this commentary on the Gospel of Matthew. After an introduction, he provides a literal translation of each section in Matthew's Gospel and explains the textual problems, philological difficulties, and other matters in the notes. He then presents a literary analysis of each text (content, form, use of sources, structure), examines the text against its Jewish background, situates it in the context of Matthew's debate with other first-century Jews, and reflects on its significance for Christian theology and Christian-Jewish relations. Bibliographies direct the reader to other important modern studies.

Having devoted the past ten years of his life to research for this major new work, John Nolland gives us a commentary on the Gospel of Matthew that engages with a notable range of Matthean scholarship and offers fresh interpretations of the dominant Gospel in the history of the church. Without neglecting the Gospel's sources or historical background, Nolland places his central focus on the content and method of Matthew's story. His work explores Matthew's narrative technique and the inner logic of the unfolding text, giving full weight to the Jewish character of the book and its differences from Mark's presentation of parallel material. While finding it unlikely that the apostle Matthew himself composed the book, Nolland does argue that Matthew's Gospel reflects the historical ministry of Jesus with considerable accuracy, and he brings to the table new evidence for an early date of composition. Including accurate translations based on the latest Greek text, detailed verse-by-verse comments, thorough bibliographies for each section, and an array of insightful critical approaches, Nolland's Gospel of Matthew will stimulate students, preachers, and scholars seeking to understand more fully Matthew's presentation of the gospel narrative.

In Matthew’s passion narrative, the ethnoracial identity of Jesus comes into sharp focus. The repetition of the title “King of the Judeans” foregrounds the politics of race and ethnicity. Despite the explicit use of terminology, previous scholarship has understood the title curiously in non-ethnoracial ways. This book takes the peculiar omission in the history of interpretation as its point of departure. It provides an expanded ethnoracial reading of the text, and poses a fundamental ideological question that interrogates the pattern in the larger context of modern biblical scholarship. Wongi Park issues a critique of the dominant narrative and presents an alternative reading of Matthew’s passion narrative. He identifies a critical vocabulary and framework of analysis to decode the politics of race and ethnicity implicit in the history of interpretation. Ultimately, the book lends itself to a broader research agenda: the destabilization of the dominant narrative of early Christianity’s non-ethnoracial origins.

These books show how several readers can proclaim the Passion well. Rather than simply dividing the Passion into the parts, this book allows the evangelist's understanding of the Passion to be heard and pondered. You'll also find proclamation tips and suggestions for musical refrains, acclamations and hymns. The cover is suitable for use in the liturgy, and the type and the use of sense lines allow for ease of proclamation. The text of the English version is that of the revised U.S. lectionary. The text of the Spanish version corresponds to the Mexican lectionary.

Proclamation of the crucified Messiah is always close at hand when one attempts even the most cursory articulation of the Christian faith. Viewed simultaneously as scandal and eschatological turning-point the cross of Christ is the cornerstone of Christian faith and praxis. This is not to say that the crucifixion of Jesus has at all times and all places been subjected to a single interpretation by Christian believers. Already in the dawning years of the Christian movement Jesus' disciples understood his death in numerous ways, utilizing a variety of images. This study takes as its primary points of departure the prominence of the cross-event for Christians and the variety of it interpretations. Here we seek a partial answer to the question how earliest Christianity understood the death of Jesus. Originally, this study took the form of a 1985 University of Aberdeen dissertation.

This book explores 'innocent blood' and its traditions as keys to the death of Jesus in Matthew, against background of exile and return.

Gripping stories, whether modern or ancient, always include heroes and villains. The Synoptic Gospels, chock full of villains (religious leaders and others) in pursuit of an emerging hero (Jesus), are no different. Drawing first-century Jews into their familiar past and beckoning modern readers to join in its appreciation, these writers employ a literary tactic that intensifies this conflict; they depict these characters as Old Testament heroes and villains. To enter this fascinating, intertextual character portrayal, this book, in building on eighty years of lament studies, advances our understanding of the Synoptists's literary and rhetorical use of the Psalmic Lament in relation to other Old Testament motifs to characterize Jesus and his opponents. Other contributions made along the way, including insights into the Synoptists's literary appropriation of Isaiah's Servant, are all geared toward helping us better understand how Matthew, Mark, and Luke characterize their hero and villains.