Israel's last prophet
Subtitle: Jesus and the Jewish leaders in Matthew 23
By: David L. Turner ; foreword by Rabbi Michael J. Cook
Publisher: Fortress Press
Published: 2015
Place of publication: Minneapolis, MN
Language: eng
Number of pages: 487
ISBN-13: 9781451470055; 9781451472318
Copyright date: 2015
Subjects: Bible; Jews; Bibel; Criticism, interpretation; Prophecies; Jews in the New Testament; Juden
Other titles: Jesus and the Jewish leaders in Matthew 23
Description: Jesus' words of indictment and judgment in the Gospel according to Matthew have fueled centuries of Christian anti-Judaism and the horrors of the twentieth-century Holocaust. The solemn parables and pronouncements of judgment in chapters 22--23 come to a climax in Jesus' ironic command that the scribes and Pharisees "fill up the measure" of their ancestors, bringing upon their generation the judgment of God (Matt. 23:32--36). But what did those words originally mean within Matthew's narrative? Carefully distinguishing what can be known from what may only be conjectured, David L. Turner examines how Matthew has taken up Deuteronomic themes of prophetic rejection and judgment and woven them throughout the Gospel, particularly in Matthew 23. Turner argues that the Gospel author was engaged in a heated intramural dispute with other Jewish groups and that the terrible legacy of Christian anti-Jewish violence results, in part, from a gross misunderstanding of Matthew's original context and purpose -- on the part of generations who failed to recognize the author's worldview and allusions.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 399-466) and indexes.
Table of contents: title: Part I. The motif of the rejection of the prophets. Introduction to the motif: the rejection of the prophets and the Deuteronomistic perspective; title: The rejection of the prophets in Jewish literature; title: The rejection of the prophets in the New Testament; title: Part II. The rejection of the prophets in Matthew. Matthew's understanding of the Bible; title: John the Baptist as the penultimate rejected prophet; title: Jesus as the ultimate rejected prophet; title: Jesus' disciples as future rejected prophets; title: The parable of the wicked tenant farmers (Matthew 21:33-46); title: Jesus before Pilate: the "blood libel" (Matthew 27:11-26); title: Part III. Jesus and the Jewish leaders in Matthew 23. An introduction to Matthew 23; title: Exegetical commentary on Matthew 23; title: The crucial text: Matthew 23:32; title: Conclusion.