The Matthean Beatitudes in their Jewish origins
Subtitle: a literary and speech act analysis
By: Timothy D. Howell
Series: Studies in Biblical literature -- v. 144; Studies in biblical literature -- v. 144.
Publisher: Peter Lang; Peter Lang Inc., International Academic Publishers
Published: 2011
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 343
ISBN-13: 9781433115455
Subjects: Bible; Judaism; Christianity and other religions; Beatitudes; Criticism, interpretation; Speech acts (Linguistics); Relations; Christianity
Description: Timothy D. Howell examines how Matthew used Jewish concepts as paradigmatic utterances for the Matthean community. In fact, the Gospel of Matthew was the most Jewish of the Synoptic Gospels, and Matthew's paradigm was the needed transition for understanding the role of the new community post-70 AD. The importance and role of Jewish concepts is evident in Matthew's work. More specifically, the literary nature of the Beatitudes demonstrates a composition that evolved from oral origins. Speech act theory is utilized to point out the oral features of the text as well as to reveal what Jesus did in his sayings. Moreover, a speech act model is presented and applied to the Beatitudes' pericope. Their significance lies in the authoritative utterances of Jesus. By employing speech act theory on the Beatitudes, the sayings of Jesus are investigated to illustrate the force of his eloquence on the Christian community.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [291]-326) and indexes.
Table of contents: title: Why use speech act theory on the Beatitudes?; title: Various views of Jewish-Christian identification and its implications for the Matthean community; title: Major issues bearing upon a contextual analysis of the Beatitudes; title: The immediate circumstances surrounding the Beatitudes; title: Exegetical analysis of the Beatitudes : its contextual meaning and verbal threads; title: Literary analysis of the Beatitudes : understanding what the text is; title: Speech act theory and the beatitudes; title: Words as deeds : the Beatitudes as paradigmatic.