The Nature and Demands of the Sovereign Rule of God in the Gospel of Matthew

(Hardback)

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This work argues that the author of the Gospel of Matthew structures his work as a Bios or biography of Jesus, so as to encapsulate, in narrative form, the essence of his theological understanding of God's Basileia (sovereign rule), as proclaimed and taught in the teaching and healing mission of Jesus. Evidence for this is found in Matthew's careful use of structural markers to divide his story of Jesus into significant thematic sub-sections in which he uses a series of Basileia logia at incisive points to highlight aspects of Jesus' teaching and healing mission. In this way, Matthew is able to portray Jesus, as God's promised Messiah, who instructs his disciples through discourse and narrative, hence in word and example, in the nature and demands of God's sovereign rule.

By structuring his Gospel as a story, Matthew depicts Jesus giving instructions to his disciples and also instructs the readers of the text. Hence, Matthew's Gospel becomes a manual of instruction on the nature and demands of God's sovereignty. Its purpose is to ensure that not only the members of the Matthean community, but all future disciples of Jesus are competently trained to carry out Jesus' commission: "Go therefore and disciple all the nations ..." (28:19-20). In this way, the goods news of God's saving presence is proclaimed to all the nations until God's eschatological reign is finally established.

LNTS 308

Reviews

Reviewed in International Review of Biblical Studies, 2007.
"Much the largest part of the book is a useful and patient working" Journal for the study of the New Testament, 30 May 2009 -- David Wenham
"overall treatment represents a careful combination of lexical . historic-critiacl and literary methodologies to arrive at sensible exegetical analysis of the passages under consideration. "her main argument that 'the power Jesus grants with his these keys must also be connected with the authority to interpret the law correctly as Jesus himself has done 'is a highly plausible interpretation.This is an important study, which hopefully will gain the recognition it deserves" Expository Times Vol. 119 No.10 July 2008
"insightful work..it is well worth the read" Theological Book Review Vol. 19 No. 1 2007 -- Mark Lee Genter, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, USA
'This is an excellent work, well conceived and beautifully executed. The prose is lucid throughout and never falls victim to jargon even when technical issues are considered... Hannan crafts an approach to the narrative that is sensitive to its sequence as well as to patterns evident when the work is read as a whole.' Professor Bruce Chilton, Bernard Iddings Bell Professor of Religion, Bard College, Annandale, New York * Blurb from reviewer *

Author Bio

Margaret Hannan SGS lectures in both Theology and Biblical Studies at the Australian Catholic University. Her areas of expertise are New Testament Studies, Biblical Interpretation, Women in the Old and New Testament and Sacramental Theology.