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The Vision of Matthew: Christ, Church, and Morality in the First Gospel
John P. Meier
(Crossroad, 1991)
It is a curse of the tax laws that publishers must frequently allow good books to go out of print (because they must continually pay taxes on their inventories). Fortunately, Crossroad has ameliorated this curse in the case of John Meier’s. very helpful 1979 book on Matthew, originally published by Paulist Press. The Vision of Matthew has already found an important place on the bookshelves of scholars, students and pastors and will now be available to a wider readership. In some ways a revision of the author’s more technical Law and History in Matthew’s Gospel (Biblical Institute Press, 1976), The Vision of Matthew offers in nontechnical and theologically sensitive ways what has become a very significant perspective on Matthean Christology (Matthew’s understanding of the person and work of Christ), ecclesiology (Matthew’s understanding of the nature of the Church) and ethics. Meier has been challenged for over a decade on individual points of his thesis—for example, the view that Matthew’s Jesus abrogates the Law of the Old Testament—but few have been able to discuss the First Gospel without reference to his work.
The Scrolls and the New Testament
ed. Krister Stendahl
(Crossroad, 1992)
This is a paperback reissue of the best early (1957) collection of essays on the Dead Sea Scrolls and the New Testament. These essays were written when only the texts from the first cave at Qumran and the Damascus Document (discovered in the Cairo Genizah and which turned out to be a medieval copy of a Dead Sea Scroll) were generally available for study. Even at this early time the experts involved were able to compose impressive studies on topics such as John the Baptist and the Scrolls (William Brownlee), the concept of the two Messiahs (Karl Georg Kuhn), the Lord’s Supper and the Qumran meal (also by Kuhn), the Sermon on the Mount and the scrolls (Kurt Schubert), and Paul and the teachings of the Scrolls on flesh and spirit (W. D. Davies). James Charlesworth has furnished a new introduction, while Stendahl has added a new preface. The Selected Bibliography focuses on books that have been published since 1960—that is, after these essays first appeared.
Gender and Difference in Ancient Israel
ed. Peggy L. Day
(Fortress, 1989)
Essays from a feminist perspective on various female characters in ancient Israel. Day provides an introduction to the subject and a survey of the 11 essays contributed by as many women scholars. The women or female archetypes analyzed are: Hagar, the Potiphar’s wife motif, Jael, Jephthah’s daughter, the harlot, the woman Israel in Hosea 1–3, worship of the queen of heaven, the widow woman in Proverbs 1–9, Esther and women of the Exodus. Includes a bibliography and an index of biblical citations.
The Vision of Matthew: Christ, Church, and Morality in the First Gospel
John P. Meier
(Crossroad, 1991)