1994 - dale c. allison - review of ‘matthew’ by douglas r.a. hare & ‘reading matthew’ by...

8/13/2019 1994 - Dale C. Allison - Review of Matthew by Douglas R.A. Hare & Reading Matthew by David E. Garland

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article on "Festivals, Jewish." I was puzzled as to why there is no article on

"Vows," and suspect that the subject is treated under some other heading.Metallurgy would seem to be a subject close to the interests of the ABD, for ithas to do with the material culture of the ancient Near East; however, no entryappears under M. "Retribution" and "Revenge" are not treated, either, but thensuch subjects are less up the alley of the ABD. Should an additional indexvolume (originally projected for 1993 publication) ever appear, complete withcross-references and a list of scriptural citations, problems of finding one's wayaround the massive ABD will be greatly eased.

Even in a work as massive as the ABD, choices among topics no doubt hadto be made. Reviews and readers have no business eternally second-guessing theeditors, unless the interest of the material and the choice of entries are fatallytendentious and flawed. Such is not the case. A reader may find an issue framedin a way quite different from the way he or she would have couched it. But sowhat! Reframing the questions and hence the answers can have heuristic value,too. Overall, Freedman and his associates have given us an immensely valuabletool. Everyone should have access to the ABD. If you do not have $360 to spare(or less, if you patronize a discount bookseller), get somebody else to acquire itand make it available. If the church or synagogue library cannot buy a set,perhaps the city or county library will. After all, this will be a standard referencework for years to come and will be a resource much appreciated by seriousprofessional and lay students of the Bible throughout the entire community.

W. Sibley TownerUnion Theological Seminary in Virginia

Richmond, Virginia

M a t t h e w , by Douglas R.A. Hare. Intrepretation: A Bible Commentary forTeaching and Preaching. John Knox Press, Louisville, 1993. 338 pp. $22.00.

ISBN 0-8042-3126-5.

Reading Matthew: A Literary and TheologicalCommentary on the First Gospel, by David E. Garland.Crossroad, New York, 1993. 269 pp. $27.50. ISBN 0-8245-1275-8.

AFTER MANY YEARS of relative neglect, the Gospel of Matthew is finally receiving its ju st homage in commentaries, both critical and popular. Since the work of JohnP. Meier in 1980, the presses have served us commentaries by, among others,Robert H. Gundry (1982), F. W. Beare (1982), Paul Minear (1982), L. Saborin(1983), R. T. France (1985), Robert H. Mounce (1985), M. Limbeck (1986),Alexander Sand (1986), Joachim Gnilka (1986, 1988), Ulrich Luz (1985, 1990),

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Frederick Dale Brunner (1987, 1991), Daniel Patte (1987), W. D. Davies and

Dale C. Allison, Jr. (1988, 1991), R. H. Smith (1989 ), Daniel J. Ha rr in gt on(1991), Craig Blomberg (1992), and Donald A. Hagner (forthcoming). And nowHare and Garland (the former, author of an influential study of the theme ofJewish per sec uti on in Matthew; the other , au th or of a fine mo n og ra ph onMatth ew 23). I welc ome t he m bot h add iti ona l gates of entr y int o the FirstGospel.

Ha re 's chief co nc er n is with "the theol ogica l me an in g of the text." Con centrating upon paragraph after paragraph or pericope after pericope instead ofverse after verse, he emphasizes "what each passage means to Matthew and, by

exte nsio n, to the mo de rn ch ur ch ." This is why ques tio ns abo ut what reallyhappened are usually left to one side, and why extrabiblical texts are so seldomcited. (One can ask, however, whether what really happened should not moreoften be par t of the mean in g for the mod er n chur ch.)

Hare's theological point of view is present throughout. On page 9, forexample, he writes that "we surely ought to confess our faith in the incarnationof the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, but it is a mistake to buttress ourconfession with this narrative" (namely, 1:18-25).

The confessional stance allows for a generous use of canonical criticism, afeature the pastor and theologian should appreciate. To illustrate: Hare(whether rightly or wrongly) finds in the First Gospel a "negative theologyconcerning Israel in history." But he goes on to urge that Matthew's

presentation of God's deselection of Israel must be placed within the broadercontext of Paul's reflection on this question. Paul contended that Israel'snegative response to the gospel can by no means deter a faithful God frompursuing his plan for Israel. . . . The "hardening" that has come upon Israelprovides the opportunity for taking the gospel to the Gentiles; when the full

number of the Gentiles has entered the church, "all Israel will be saved" (Rom.11:26). At that point, Matthew's polemic will have been superseded (pp. 2 72-73).

Those wishing to preach from Matthew will be well served by Hare's contribut ion . His clear exegetical ju dg me nt s (which are shor n of scholarly app ara tus )are always careful, and they are consistently informed both by his expertise as aMatthean scholar as well as by an honest effort to observe the meeting ofMatthew's text with our modern world.

Garland's commentary is a bit different. While he too prefers the section-by-section commentary on the text as it stands rather than a verse-by-verse analysisan d is likewise hap py to pass theol ogical ju dg me nt s, he is mu ch m or e co nc er ne dwith introducing and citing recent scholarly contributions and with presentingpertinent extrabiblical parallels. His bibliography is accordingly a bit longer, andhelpful se cond ary literatu re is frequen tly cited in th e bod y of the com men ta ry.

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While Reading Matthew will certainly be of much assistance to any minister

who decides to purchase it, the book will also be useful for upper-level undergraduates, seminarians, and graduate students. This fact, however, makes onewonder whether there are not two minor blemishes on this otherwise excellentcom men tar y. First, despi te the fre que nt refer ences to seco ndar y lite ratu re (bot hbooks and articles, in both English and German), I am sometimes surprised atwhat is not cited. Surely a volume designed for serious students of Matthewshould consistently refer to certain seminal discussions of certain passages. ButJoseph Fitzmyer's work on the divorce texts, Hans Dieter Betz's article on 6:22-23 , and Gnther Bornkamm's study of the stilling of the storm are all absent. Is

this consistent with the desire (expressed in the editor's foreword) to present"cutting-edge research"? (But maybe I misunderstand. Maybe "cutting-edge"means something like "published in the last five years.") Short section-by-sectionbiogra phies (as in Daniel Har ri ngt on' s recent commen tary ) would have ad de d tothe volume's utility.

Th e second min or pro bl em is tha t the ab an do nm en t of verse-by-verseanalysis for concentration upon plot and the larger thought unitsa neededcorrectiveoccasionally begets the passing over of important details. For example, nothing at all is said about the dove at the baptism. How should it beexplained? What does it symbolize? Does it have some special literary background? Again, the very difficult and much debated phrase in 19:28, "you will situp o n twelve th ro ne s ju dg i ng t he twelve tribes of Israel ," is qu ot ed , bu t leftunexplained. What does it mean? Surely this is fitting matter for a commentary,even for one dedicated to larger thought units.

I do not, however, wish to leave a faulty impression: One can always picknits. Garland's Reading Matthew is, as of the mo me nt , probab ly the first co mm entary I would rec om me nd to a serious und er gra dua te s tude nt or se minari an

interested in learning what modern scholarship now does with Matthew.Dale C.Allison, Jr.Kansas Newman CollegeWichita, Kansas

The Gospel of Mark as a Model for Action: AReader-Response Commentary, by John Paul Heu. PaulistPress, New York and Mahwah, 1992. 396 pp. $19.95 (paper). ISBN 0-8091-3148-X.

The Gospel According to Saint Mark, by Moma D. Hooker. Black's New Testament Commentary. Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody,1991. 424 pp. n.p. ISBN 1-56563-010-6.

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1994 - dale c. allison - review of ‘matthew’ by douglas r.a. hare & ‘reading matthew’ by...

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