8/13/2019 1996 - Dale C. Allison - Review of A Gospel for the New People of God. Studies in Matthew by Anthony J. Saldarini

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http://int.sagepub.com/content/50/2/199.2.citationThe online version of this article can be found at:

DOI: 10.1177/002096439605000218

1996 50: 199InterpretationDale C. Allison, Jr.

Book Review: A Gospel for the New People of God: Studies in Matthew

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Union Presbyterian Seminary

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8/13/2019 1996 - Dale C. Allison - Review of A Gospel for the New People of God. Studies in Matthew by Anthony J. Saldarini

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Shorter Reviews

tions aresuggestive and sensibly argued.

The wealth ofinsights are,however,marred somewhat byfreque nt grammati

cal errors, an incom plet e bibliography,

and an overly self-assertive stylea car

dinal sinamong the ancient sages! De-

spite these distractions, theworkis to be

heartily recommended for scholarsand

pastors alike.

William P. Brown

Union Theological SeminaryRichmond, Virginia

Matthew's Christian-Jewish Commu

nity, byAnthonyJ. Saldarini. ChicagoStudiesintheHistoryof Judaism.TheUniversityofChicago Press, Chicago,

1994. 317pp. $17.95 (paper). ISBN0-226-73421-8.

SALDARINI EXPLORES the social and literary

dimensionsof the Matthean group of

Jewish believers-in-Jesus byusing theo

retical concepts andcategoriesof

deviance, sect, andcommunity. Saldarini

argues that theGospel of Matthew

addresses a reformist Jewish sect within

the Jewish community where it seeks

influence and power within the community as awhole. In contrast to some

commentators whoidentify theauthor as

a Christian and not aJew, Saldarini

provides textual evidence that its author

and audience arecompletely Jewish.

Saldarini reads theGospelof

Matthew in light of social analysisby

focusing on indigenou s Jewish thoug ht,

practices, conflicts, andhistoryin the

first-century eastern Mediterranean

world. Hisstudy therefore focuses on the

relation of Matthew's Christian-Jewish

community to first-century Judaism, its

understanding of "Israel," the "Nations,"

Torah, and Jesusas theMessiah and Son

of God. Theheart of Saldarini's studyis

found inChapter 5where he exploresMatthew's gr oup of Jewish believers-in-

Jesus through thelensesof the sociology

of intergroup relations and Matthew's

biblical interpretation. Hisanalyses point

out howMatthew's gro up acted as

faithful Jews, worshipped God, studied

and obeyed God's law(according to the

interpretat ions of Jesus), and kept

communal order. Although Matthew's

group hasdeviated from someof theculturally accepted Jewish waysof acting

and thinking, it has no tceased to be

Jewish in outlook, behavior, and identity,

having close relations with the Jewish

community andmany com mo n symbolic

elements.

This study contributes to an increas

ing awareness that many studies ofearly

Judaism and Christianity have errone

ously retrojected later, classical forms of

Judaism and Christianity into the first

two centuries. Itprovides afresh and

lucid approach to Matthean studiesand

pointsthe way for future work in Gospel

studies, thehistory of early Christianity

and early Judai sm, andChristian theol

ogy and Jewish thought, aswell as for

improved Jewish-Christian relations.

Christian KeimMcGill University

Montreal, Quebec

A Gospelfor theNew Peopleof

God: StudiesinMatthew, by GrahamN.Stanton. Westminster/JohnKnox Press, Louisville,1993. 424pp.$18.99 (paper). ISBN 0-664-25499-3.

THIS FIRST-RATE COLLECTION of essays, half

of which appear here for the first time,

falls into three parts. Part I concerns

itself with method in the interpretation

of Matthew. Stanton reviews the contri-

Interpretation 199

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8/13/2019 1996 - Dale C. Allison - Review of A Gospel for the New People of God. Studies in Matthew by Anthony J. Saldarini

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butions of source criticism, redaction

criticism, literary criticism, and sociologi

cal study, and wisely urges that they are

not exclusive of one another; they canand should be practiced simultaneously.

Stanton is particularly helpfuland

convincingin coming to the defense of

redaction criticism, which has been

unfairly denigrated recently in some

quarters. Part II, entitled "The Parting of

the Ways," contains seven studies relating

to the issue of Matthew's relationship to

Judaism. Here the main conclusion is

that while Matthew's community wasseparated from Judaism, it still defined

itself over agains t its Jewish pa re nt

community. Part III is a collection of

rather more disparate studiestwo on

the Sermon on the Mount, one on

Matthean redactional creativity, one on

the Old Testament in Matthew, and,

finally, one on 11:28-30. The book

concludes with a brief chapter of

conclusions and a classified bibliography.Part I is the most satisfying port ion

of the book. Stanton's plea for an

eclectic method commends itself to both

common sense and critical reflection.

There is no need to oppose, let us say,

literary criticism and redaction criticism,

nor any good reason why both cannot be

informed by sociological theories and

models, and Stanton proves this through

concrete examples of exegesis. Lesssatisfying is Part II, for Stanton may

underestimate how close Matthew's

Christian community remained to the

Jewish community from which it came.

Even if Jewish Chr istians ha d exited or

been forced to exit the synagogue, I

doubt that, in Matthew's day, they viewed

themselves as a distinct entity over

against Judaism, and I suspect they still

hoped against hope to win over theent ire Jewish community. They were also

probab ly more Jewish in thei r p ractice

than Stanton allows. He thinks, for

example, that 24:20 does not imply

continued keeping of the Sabbatha

conclusion which I find unconvincing.

But our differences of opinion on thisand other matters in no way affect my

enthusiasm for Stanton's essays, which

should be carefully pondered by all

seriously interested in fathoming the

First Gospel.

Dale C. Allison, Jr.

Fnends University

Wichita, Kansas

Mark: Images of an Apostolic

Interpreter, by C. Clifton Black.

Studies on Personalities of the New

Testament. University of South Caro

lina Press, Columbia, 1994. 327 pp.

$39.95. ISBN 0-87249-973-1.

ATTEMPTING neither to sketch a personality nor to write a biography, the author

of this study provides his readers instead

the history of an image and its function

as recorded in the canonical writings

(Part I) up through Eastern and Western

patristic traditions of the third and

fourth centuries (Part II). Part III is

devoted to the question of why the

figure of Mark was identi fied as the

author of the Second Gospel, andexplores the historical, sociological,

theological, and religious dimensions of

the question as well as the answers

patristic tradition provided. In this

connection, Black compares the Gospel

according to Mark with those traditions

associated by the early Church Fathers

with Mark the evangelist.

Thoroughly researched and lucidly

written, the book comprehensively

explores its subject. Black identifies the

church's need to authenticate its own

integrity through time as the motivating

200

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