While the Bridegroom is with them': Marriage, Family, Gender and Violence in the Gospel of Matthew

(Hardback)

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Interpreters of Matthew's Parable of the Wedding Feast (22.1-14) typically associate the 'king' with God and then justify his violent attacks against city and guests; interpreters of the Parable of the Ten Virgins (25.1-13) typically associate the 'bridegroom' with Jesus and then justify his extreme rejection of the 'foolish virgins.' Questioning such allegorical interpretations, this study first details how Hebrew, Greek, and Roman texts depict - without requiring allegorical understandings - numerous bridegrooms associated not only with joy but also with violence and death. Second, this project appeals to the disruptive nature of parables, the feminist technique of resisting reading, and the Matthean Jesus's own ethical instructions to argue that in the parables, those who resist violent rulers and uncaring bridegrooms are the ones worthy of the Kingdom. The study then shows how the Matthean Jesus - the brideless, celibate bridegroom -- creates a fictive family by disrupting biological and marital ties, redefining masculinity, and undermining the desirability of marriage and procreation. JSNTS 292

Reviews

"a compelling and brilliantly crafted reexamination of a long neglected motif. "While the Bridegroom is with Them" will be of most interest to scholars of Matthew, ancient Greco-Roman gender roles, the analysis of Christian parables, and feminist scholarship in general." Robert Paul Seesengood, University of North Carolina (Pembroke), Religious Studies Review
"Blickenstaff's work is original and well argued... adds a refreshing new perspective... This is an important resource for Matthean scholars and those interested in studies on violence and peacebuilding." - Barbara E. Reid, 68, 2006 * Catholic Biblical Quarterly *
'The strengths of this book lie in the detailed exegetical examination of the wedding motif in Matthew, and in Blickenstaff's willingness to engage with the harsh features of the wedding parables.' Susan Miller * Journal for the Study of the New Testament *
'In her well-documented introduction, [Marianne Blickenstaff]lays out the lacuna in Matthean studies in relation to her combination of themes, which she seeks to fill with this study, a goal she has achieved convincingly....Her study is a significant one for all biblical scholars in a world characterized by violence.' Elaine Wainwright, University of Auckland, Australia,RBL, 10/2006 -- Elaine Wainwright * RBL *

Author Bio

Marianne Blickenstaff has a Ph.D. in New Testament from Vanderbilt University, and is Biblical Reference Editor at Abingdon Press, Nashville, TN. She is co-editor, with Amy-Jill Levine, of the Feminist Companion to the New Testament series (T&T Clark).