Fortress Press Studies in Matthew (4 vols.)

by Mark Allan Powell; Jack Dean Kingsbury; Ulrich Luz

Publisher:

Fortress Press

, 1988–2007

Overview

Fortress Press Studies in Matthew covers numerous interpretive topics relating to the Gospel of Matthew. God with Us provides a pastoral reading of Matthew, focusing on his views on social justice, worship, missions, and more. Matthew as Story brings a literary-critical approach to the Gospel, analyzing such narrative elements as plot, character, setting, and climax. Matthew in History shows how Matthew has been interpreted throughout history and illustrates contemporary issues in biblical interpretation. The collection concludes with an analysis of Matthew’s structure, Christology, and Kingdom-theology.

The Logos Bible Software edition of Fortress Press Studies in Matthew is designed to encourage and stimulate your study and understanding of Matthew’s Gospel. Scripture passages link directly to your English translations and to the Greek text, 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 Matthew.

Key Features

• Studies the Gospel’s theological and literary elements
• Analyzes the Gospel of Matthew from a pastoral perspective
• Presents an interpretive history of specific passages in Matthew

Product Details

• Title: Fortress Press Studies in Matthew
• Publisher: Fortress Press
• Volumes: 4
• Pages: 660
• Christian Group: Lutheran
• Resource Type: Monographs
• Topic: Biblical Studies

God with Us: A Pastoral Theology of Matthew’s Gospel

• Author: Mark Allan Powell
• Publisher: Fortress Press
• Publication Date: 1995
• Pages: 168

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

In this creative approach, Mark Allan Powell inquires into the thrust of Matthew’s Gospel in categories related to pastoral theology rather than systematic theology. Fresh insights are gained into the intentions of the evangelist. Included are chapters on Matthew’s understanding of:

• Mission
• Stewardship
• Worship
• Social justice
• Teaching

Powell has rendered a great service to scholars and pastors by interpreting Matthew’s Gospel according to a ‘pastoral’ reading that corresponds in a remarkably satisfying way to the intentions of the Gospel and the situation out of which it was originally addressed. This is the kind of book about which one is tempted to ask, ‘Why hasn’t anyone thought of this before?’

—David R. Bauer, Ralph Waldo Beeson Professor of Inductive Biblical Studies, Asbury Theological Seminary

Mark Allen Powell is the Robert and Phyllis Leatherman Professor of New Testament at Trinity Lutheran Seminary, Columbus, Ohio. He is the author of Fortress Introduction to the Gospels and Introducing the New Testament: A Historical, Literary, and Theological Survey.

Matthew as Story

• Author: Jack Dean Kingsbury
• Edition: 2nd
• Publisher: Fortress Press
• Publication Date: 1988
• Pages: 192

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

This work uses literary (narrative) criticism to explore the world of the evangelist Matthew. The focus is on the plot of the Gospel story, with discussions of the storylines, Jesus’ speeches and journey, the disciples’ experiences, and the contemporary community.

The book is a completely revised and enlarged version of the first edition. Two chapters have been added: one discussing the speeches of Jesus and one tracing the storyline of the religious leaders. Also, the fifth chapter on Jesus’ use of “the Son of man” has been substantially rewritten to explain more fully and more clearly the meaning and function of this self-designation. Throughout the book, new topics and insights have been added and developed, and the citations and bibliography have been updated.

To know what is going on in contemporary literary-critical interpretation of Matthew’s Gospel, one must read Kingsbury’s Matthew as Story. He has been the trailblazer in this area.

—John P. Meier, William K. Warren Professor of Theology, University of Notre Dame

Jack Dean Kingsbury is the Aubrey Lee Brooks Professor of Theology, emeritus, at Union Theological Seminary in Virginia. He is the author of The Christology of Mark’s Gospel and Conflict in Luke: Jesus, Authorities, Disciples.

Matthew in History: Interpretation, Influence, and Effects

• Author: Ulrich Luz
• Publisher: Fortress Press
• Publication Date: 1994
• Pages: 122

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

In this provocative book, Ulrich Luz points the way beyond the limitations of the historical-critical method as it has been practiced during the past two centuries. He demonstrates the richness of the insights that can be gained when the interpreter considers a variety of effects and influences that a text has had in subsequent history—a method of inquiry he calls Wirkungsgeschichte.

This distinctive approach is here applied to the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 10, and Matthew 16:18. Insights from the ancient fathers, from Scholastics, from Reformers and Anabaptists, and from many others are adduced to demonstrate the importance of the history of Christian thought for the interpretation of biblical texts.

Students and pastors will welcome this book! It begins with the frank admission that because much current study of the Bible attempts openly to explain what scriptural texts meant in ancient times, it strikes the reader as irrelevant for life and experience today. Throughout the centuries, however, biblical texts have generated new meanings in new situations. The upshot is that biblical texts have a ‘history of effects,’ and this history is part of our history. Written in a lively style, this book is not only stimulating and highly informative but it also grapples successfully with the knotty problem of what interpreting Scripture entails.

—Jack Dean Kingsbury, Aubrey Lee Brooks Professor of Theology, emeritus, at Union Theological Seminary

Ulrich Luz is a Swiss theologian. He studied theology in Zürich and Göttingen under Hans Conzelmann, Eduard Schweizer, and Gerhard Ebeling, and has taught at the International Christian University in Tokyo (1970–1971), University of Göttingen (1972–1980), and University of Bern (1981–2003). He received honorary degrees from the universities of Leipzig, Budapest, and Sibiu, and served as president of the Societas Novi Testamenti Studiorum in 1998. His published works in English are Jesus in Two Perspectives: A Jewish-Christian Dialog, Matthew 1–7, Matthew in History: Interpretation, Influence and Effects, and The Theology of the Gospel of Matthew.

Matthew: Structure, Christology, Kingdom

• Author: Jack Dean Kingsbury
• Publisher: Fortress Press
• Publication Date: 1989
• Pages: 178

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

This book attempts a solution to the problems of the structure, Christology, and Kingdom-theology of the Gospel according to St. Matthew. The author contends that the broad structure of the Gospel consists of three main parts: the person of Jesus Messiah, the proclamation of Jesus Messiah, and the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Messiah.

This understanding of the broad structure of Matthew’s Gospel opens the way to a proper understanding of his Christology. That is, for Matthew, Jesus is first and foremost the Messiah, the Son of God. Kingbury’s analysis of the texts in which “Son of God” appears, and of the numerous other Christological terms Matthew employs, confirms this conclusion.

Kingbury demonstrates how Matthew develops both the structure and the primary theological concept of his Gospel, “The Kingdom of Heaven,” around the Christological category of “the Son of God.” A rigorous conclusion reached is that the focus of the Gospel of Matthew is revealed more in his Christology than in his ecclesiology.

Professor Kingsbury has brought to the Gospel of Matthew a fresh glance and a new insight. Without ignoring the heavy backlog of scholarship on this Gospel, he has proposed that redaction criticism restore its focus on Christology which is the heart of Matthew’s message. Amid the wealth of titles of Jesus used by Matthew, Kingsbury argues persuasively that the Evangelist saw Jesus first and foremost as Song of God.

—George MacRae, former dean, Harvard Divinity School

Jack Dean Kingsbury is the Aubrey Lee Brooks Professor of Theology, emeritus, at Union Theological Seminary in Virginia. He is the author of The Christology of Mark’s Gospel and Conflict in Luke: Jesus, Authorities, Disciples.