The Gospel of Matthew in its Roman Imperial Context
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Overview
This collection of scholarly essays tackles a number of questions based on Matthew’s gospel. In what sense does Matthew's Gospel reflect the colonial situation in which the community found itself after the fall of Jerusalem and the subsequent humiliation of Jews across the Roman Empire? To what extent was Matthew seeking to oppose Rome's claims to authority and sovereignty over the whole world, to set up alternative systems of power and society, to forge new senses of identity? If Matthew's community felt itself to be living on the margins of society, where did it see the centre as lying? In Judaism or in Rome? And how did Matthew's approach to such problems compare with that of Jews who were not followers of Jesus Christ and with that of others, Jews and Gentiles, who were followers?
Top Highlights
“Matthaean community, though regarded as deviant6 by dominant forms of Judaism at the time, should nevertheless be seen as an integral part of first-century Jewish society.” (Page 2)
“Matthew’s community, perhaps located in Antioch, was living in the aftermath of the destruction of the Temple and the consequent loss of power of the dominant priesthood.” (Page 3)
“Matthew’s community was explicitly committed to establishing relations with its non-Jewish neighbours and indeed to ‘making disciples of them’.” (Page 4)
“fundamental tension inherent in early Christian attitudes to Rome” (Page 76)
- Title: The Gospel of Matthew in its Roman Imperial Context
- Editors: John K. Riches and David Sim
- Publisher: Continuum International Publishing Group
- Publication Date: 2005
- Pages: 224
- Volume 276 in the Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement series
John K. Riches is Professor of Divinity and Biblical Criticism Emeritus, University of Glasgow.
Dr. David Sim is Senior Lecturer in Theology, Australian Catholic University, Queensland.