Mark and Matthew II. Comparative Readings: Reception History, Cultural Hermeneutics, and Theology

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Sustained, comparative Synoptic studies do not stand alone methodologically in the humanities, but belong to a more general trend within cultural studies as well as in the humanities more broadly. Textual interpretation involves approaching specific texts composed more often than not by individual authors. In these texts, however, are embedded a myriad of conscious and unconscious relationships to historical and contemporary events, people, and other texts likewise connected historically and contemporaneously. In-depth understanding of a text evolves, therefore, almost by necessity from multi-perspectival comparative approaches rather than from readings taking a more isolated focus as point of departure. The Mark and Matthew project, of which the present study is the second volume, aims at taking seriously such more general insights and applying them to the earliest Gospels in order to stimulate new research and a deeper understanding of these two texts individually and as parts of a common discursive setting. In the present volume, the goal has been to shed light on the interpretation and use of the earliest Gospels from the first to the twenty-first century, with special focus on cultural hermeneutics and theology. The dynamics of interpretation, including the role played by history, methodology, religion, and politics, are taken into consideration, shedding light on distinctive aspects of the human endeavour to understand and use sacred text in context. One of the characteristics of the interpretive effort that is highlighted through this approach is the fact that texts are silent until we, their readers, give them voice; that meaning and use happen in the interplay between history and the present, residing never in one place alone, but rather in the dynamic space embracing both text and reader. Cover Preface Table of Contents Anders Runesson and Eve-Marie Becker: Introduction: Reading Mark and Matthew Within and Beyond the First Century Part I: Reception and Cultural Hermeneutics: Reading Mark and Matthew From the 1ˢᵗ to the 21ˢᵗ Century Eve-Marie Becker: The Reception of “Mark” in the 1ˢᵗ and 2nd Centuries C. E. and its Significance for Genre Studies 1. Defining and Re-defining “Mark” 2. Genre Studies (Gattungsgeschichte) 2.1 From Mark to Matthew 2.2 From Mark and Matthew to the Gospel of Peter 3. Conclusions and Prospects Petri Luomanen: From Mark and Q to Matthew: An Experiment in Evolutionary Analysis 1. Introduction 2. Why Did Mark and Matthew Survive, But Not Q? 3. Evolutionary Accounts of Early Christianity 3.1 Background 3.2 David Sloan Wilson’s Darwin’s Cathedral 3.3 Gerd Theissen’s Biblical Faith Contradictions relativized Biological and cultural evolution The Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit Assessing Theissen’s evolutionary approach 4. Modeling the Evolutionary Analysis of the Rise of Christianity Network analysis A model for the analysis of Mark, Matthew, and Q 5. Mark, Q, and Matthew in Evolutionary Perspective 5.1 Formal Characteristics of the Discourse Mark Comparing Mark and Matthew Comparing Q with Mark and Matthew 5.2 Network Discourse and Community Control Comparing Mark and Matthew Comparing Q with Mark and Matthew 5.3 Identity Discourse Mark Comparing Mark and Matthew Comparing Q with Mark and Matthew 5.4 Ritual Discourse Comparing Mark and Matthew Comparing Q with Mark and Matthew 6. Conclusion Benedict Thomas Viviano, O. P.: Who Wrote Q? The Sayings Document (Q) as the Apostle Matthew’s Private Notebook as a Bilingual Village Scribe (Mark 2:13–17; Matt 9:9–13) 1. Private Notebooks (Pinakes) 2. The Q Document 3. The Call of Levi-Matthew 4. Scribes 5. Logia and Papias 6. Matthew’s Rewriting of Mark 7. Conclusion René Falkenberg: Matthew 28:16–20 and the Nag Hammadi Library: Reception of the Great Commission in the Sophia of Jesus Christ 1. New Testament and Nag Hammadi Texts 2. Addressees and Temporal and Geographical Setting 3. Appearance of Christ and the Disciples’ Response 4. Discipleship by Authoritative Teaching 5. Eschatological Divine Presence 6. Divine Pantheon in Eugnostos and SJC 7. Cosmos and Ritual in SJC 8. Ritual and Name 9. Conclusions Peter Widdicombe: The Patristic Reception of the Gospel of Matthew: The Commentary of Jerome and the Sermons of John Chrysostom 1. Introduction 2. Jerome and Chrysostom 3. Principles of Interpretation 3.1 The Introduction to Jerome’s Commentary 3.2 Chrysostom’s First Sermon 3.3 Why Four Gospels? 4. Case Studies 4.1 The Transfiguration i. Jerome ii. Chrysostom 4.2 The Entry in Jerusalem i. Jerome ii. Chrysostom 5. Conclusion Joseph Verheyden: Reading Matthew and Mark in the Middle Ages: The Glossa Ordinaria 1. Introduction 2. Introducing the Glossa Ordinaria 3. Reading the Gloss on Matthew and Mark: Two Case Studies 3.1 The Gerasene Demoniac 3.2 The First Feeding Narrative 4. Conclusion Martin Meiser: Protestant Reading of the Gospels of Mark and Matthew in the 20ᵗʰ Century 1. The 19ᵗʰ Century: Source Criticism and Historical Reading 2. The Beginning of the 20ᵗʰ Century: Protestant Exegesis between Historicism and Theology, between Liberalism and Conservatism 3. Pre-Nazi and Nazi-Times in Germany: Protestant Exegesis between Assimilation and Resistance 4. Post-Nazi Times in Germany: Protestant Exegesis between Returning to the Bible and Contemporary Relevance 5. The Sixties: Ecumenical Development 6. The Seventies and Eighties I: Exegesis Influenced by the Dialogue between Christians and Jews 7. The Seventies and Eighties II: Modern Literary Criticism 8. The Eighties and Nineties: Political Exegesis 9. Conclusion Detlev Dormeyer: A Catholic Reading of the Gospels of Mark and Matthew in the 20ᵗʰ Century 1. Introduction 2. The Change in the Papal Documents of Catholic Exegesis in the 20ᵗʰ Century 3. The Change of Catholic Exegesis of the Gospels of Mark and Matthew in the 20ᵗʰ Century 3.1 The Acceptance of Form and Redaction Criticism 3.2 Linguistic Turn from 1970 3.2.1 Narrative Text Analysis and Text Theory 3.2.2 Language and Style in the Gospel of Mark 3.2.3 Analysis of Historical Genre: The Gospels of Mark and of Matthew as Lives 3.2.4 Reading as Interaction between the Gospel and Readers: Semiotics, Liberation Theology, Feminist and Materialist Reading, and Depth Psychology Anders Runesson: Judging the Theological Tree by its Fruit: The Use of the Gospels of Mark and Matthew in Official Church Documents on Jewish-Christian Relations 1. Introduction: Sacred Text, Violence, and Hermeneutics 2. A Note on the Frequency of Biblical Quotations 3. Matthew 3.1 Universal Fraternity 3.2 Continuity between the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament 3.3 Continuity between Jesus and Judaism (Jesus within Judaism) 4. Mark 4.1 The Independent Validity of Revelation in the Hebrew Bible 4.2 Jesus’ Ministry within and Ultimate Mission beyond the Jewish People 4.3 Jesus in Conflict with Some Jewish Groups 5. Conclusion: On History, Academia, and Theological Reception Part II: History, Meaning, and the Dynamics of Interpretation Adela Yarbro Collins: Mark and the Hermeneutics of History Writing 1. Genre and the Opening of Mark 1.1 Explanation by Formal Argument 1.2 Chronicle and Historical Events 1.3 An Affinity with the Genre “Life” or Biography 1.4 Moving from Chronicle to Story and Kinds of Stories 1.5 Explanation by Ideological Implication 1.6 Miracle Stories in Mark 2. Genre and the Ending of Mark 3. Conclusion Stephen Westerholm: Hearing the Gospels of Matthew and Mark 1. A Story from the Past 2. An Exemplary Narrative? 3. A “Transparent” Narrative? 4. Indications of the Evangelists’ Intentions Mogens Müller: The Place of Mark and Matthew in Canonical Theology: A Historical Perspective 1. Introduction: The Fourfold Gospel as a Canonical Fact 2. The Beginning: The Gospel of Mark 2.1 The Gospel Genre: Meant for Use in Worship 2.2 From Paul to Mark 2.3 The Shift from Charismatic Authority to Tradition-Authority 2.4 The Common Denominator: A New Creation 3. The Gospel of Matthew: A New Edition of Mark 3.1 Matthew Represents another Theology 3.2 The Gospel of Matthew and the Phenomenon of “Rewritten Bible” 4. Reception through Harmonization 5. To Supplement or to Replace 6. Pluriformity as a Canonical Fact Janice Capel Anderson: Mark and Matthew in Feminist Perspective: Reading Matthew’s Genealogy 1. Introduction 2. Reading the Matthean Genealogy 2.1 The Genealogy – Royal and Patrilineal 2.2 The Women in the Genealogy 2.3 The Holy and Unholy Women 2.4 The Women of the Genealogy as Gentiles 2.5 Initiative and Scandal 3. Conclusion Hans Leander: Mark and Matthew after Edward Said 1. Biblical Scholarship and Orientalism 2. A Greek or Semitic Son of God 3. Teach all Nations 4. The First Missionary to the Heathen 5. Conclusion Todd Penner and Caroline Vander Stichele: Re-Assembling Jesus: Rethinking the Ethics of Gospel Studies 1. Thinking about Context 2. Methods Are Not Neutral 3. Theorizing Modern Methods in Synoptic Studies 4. Method and Ethics: Toward Contingent Reassemblages 5. Facing Enstrangement Michael P. Knowles: The Interpretation of Mark and Matthew in Historical Perspective: The Transfiguration as a Test Case 1. Introduction 2. Patristic Exegesis 2.1 Apologetics, the Nature of Christ, and the Nature of the Biblical Text 2.2 Homiletics 2.3 Liturgy and Lectionary 2.4 Hymnody 2.5 Iconography 3. Exegesis of the Transfiguration in the Modern and Post-Modern Periods Bibliography List of Contributors Index of References Mark Matthew ‘Old Testament Writings’/Septuagint Early Jewish Texts/Non-canonical Writings Dead Sea Texts Early Jewish Authors New Testament Early Christian Texts/Extra-canonical Writings Early Christian Authors Rabbinica Greco-Roman Authors Papyri Index of Subjects