(Download) "Reading and Interpreting Matthew from the Beginning." by Currents in Theology and Mission " Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Reading and Interpreting Matthew from the Beginning.
- Author : Currents in Theology and Mission
- Release Date : January 01, 2007
- Genre: Politics & Current Events,Books,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 287 KB
Description
At the dawn of Year A in the Revised Common Lectionary, the Gospel lessons return to Matthew. (1) Unfortunately, the manner in which the lectionary orders the forty-eight to fifty Matthean texts in Year A can prove to be a major interpretive challenge for people seeking to teach and preach those texts. Matthew was written to be read and interpreted accumulatively and in sequential order. Readers are expected to begin at the beginning and build up an ever-increasing interpretive framework as they progress through the narrative. The lectionary, however, refuses to follow its sequential ordering, so that from December to May it is virtually impossible to find, let alone follow, a coherent narrative and interpretive thread. Consider, for example, the Matthean texts for the Sundays in Advent. On the first Sunday of Advent the lesson is Matthew 24:36-44, part of a scene that in Matthew's narrative takes place on Tuesday of Holy Week at the culmination of Jesus' public ministry. While this text may be entirely appropriate for introducing the season of Advent, it is entirely inappropriate to begin interpreting Matthew at this point in the narrative. Starting to interpret Matthew at 24:36 would be akin to starting to read a John Grisham novel at chapter 24 or to watch a DVD at the 85-minute mark. Such narratives are not constructed to be read, watched, or interpreted in such ways. On the Second Sunday of Advent the lectionary rewinds to Matthew 3:1-12, at which time Jesus is an adult but has not yet begun his ministry. On the Third Sunday of Advent we are suddenly propelled to 11:2-11, by which time Jesus has already carried out a third of his ministry. Then, on the Fourth Sunday of Advent, the lectionary whisks us back to the time immediately following Jesus' conception. In the course of a few weeks, the lectionary has taken us backward from the threshold of Jesus' passion to the threshold of his birth. In so doing, the lectionary hinders any attempt to establish and use Matthew's own narrative constructions as an interpretive framework for understanding Matthew.
 "Reading and Interpreting Matthew from the Beginning." by Currents in Theology and Mission " Book PDF Kindle ePub Free){kind=link}