Matthew

New Testament Message #3

by John P. Meier

"John Meier is widely recognized as an authority, and one welcomes his commentary . . .Meier's book is especially rich in showing how Matthew reinterprets the Gospel in the context of his own church and its problems."
   America

Genres: New Testament

377 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

John Paul Meier is a Biblical scholar and Catholic priest. He attended St. Joseph's Seminary and College (B.A., 1964), Gregorian University [Rome] (S.T.L, 1968), and the Biblical Institute [Rome] (S.S.D., 1976).

Meier is the author of nine books and more than 60 scholarly articles. He was editor of The Catholic Biblical Quarterly and president of the Catholic Biblical Association.

Meier is Professor of New Testament in the Department of Theology at the University of Notre Dame. Before coming to Notre Dame, he was Professor at The Catholic University of America.

Reviews

[Justine Olawsky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, I have finished the book by the author whom I have taken to calling Mrrrrrrr. One of the more infuriating aspects of this book was that he refuses to write out the evangelists' full names. It's always Mt, Mk, Lk, and Jn - and that is in the text, not merely abbreviated in Scripture citations. Why? Don't tell me it's to save time when writing. How hard is it do search a Find-->Replace in your word processor before submitting your manuscript for publication? Or, if you're the editor, why wouldn't you give those estimable men their due? So, in retaliation, he is Mrrrrrrrr.

I had many a quarrel over the past few months I've spent dipping regularly into Mrrrrrrrrrrrr's Matthew book. He begins this commentary with an introduction that posits a time (A.D. 80-90), a person (an early Church leader - definitely not the apostle - who might not even be Jewish but Gentile), and a purpose (to create a synthesized telling of the life of Christ using Mark Mk, Q, and M - definitely not to formulate and present his own recollections) which are not settled in exegetical circles but which Mrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr treats as such without offering much framework as to why he finds it necessary to disregard the earliest Church testimony about the Gospel accounts in favor of some loopy German theological suppositions from the 18th and 19th centuries. After the "Mt" and so on frustration, that is the most annoying thing about this book. The author finds no reason to offer his correlating research on any of the flights of fancy he treats as settled biblical scholarship. As someone who has a very conservative view of Scripture in general and is very much at home with trusting the wisdom of the earliest Fathers of the Church on source and authorship, I found his refusal to offer any justification for his viewpoint most annoying. I do not doubt that MRRRRRRRRRRR is an exceptional scholar and has put in the ten thousand hours requisite for mastering his subject; however, it seemed like a slap in his readers' faces not to present support for his views along the way.

Here is an example of one of these ticks: In commenting on the wise and foolish virgins parable in Matthew 25, MRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!! writes, "The delay causes all the virgins first to nod and then to sleep. Then a voice pierces the midnight silence, announcing the Bridegroom's approach. (There is no need to see here an allusion to Passover, when the Messiah was expected to come)" (295). I wrote in the margin, "Why not?" And truly, why not? Why dismiss an interesting analogical road out of hand without at least giving a reason. It really just is disrespectful of the reader, and there is lots of it in this book.

I gave this book 3-stars because it is highly readable. Sometimes I just really enjoy reading an author with whom I strongly disagree in spots — every session together is a battle, and I love a good fight. There is argument with MRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!*(#$&(@^*^ in the marginalia throughout this book, and I fondly hope someday my daughter will read it and get to know her mother a little better.

Also, there is some really good stuff in this book. Very thought-provoking insights and excellent historical framing (not footnoted or referenced in any way, of course, because that is not how he-for-whom-naming-is-too-good rolls) are woven throughout the text, and I found his commentary on the narrative and eschatological discourse found in Matthew 19-25 especially helpful (though still, of course, infuriating in places). Every once in a while, the author is funny, which always wins points with me. For example, in his reflection on Christ's cry of Psalm 22's opening lines in Matthew 27, Mrrrrr notes that there can be two mistakes of the opposite sort in interpreting this passage. The first is to see it as "Jesus falling into momentary atheism." "On the other hand," he writes, "We should not think of Jesus as though he were disinterestedly saying the breviary on the cross" (349). Little asides like that make me smile.

This observation at the end of the book (on Matthew 28:17) made the whole journey worthwhile, because it leaves me with a nugget on which to chew for many a day: "The disciples had also adored Jesus during the earthly ministry (14:33); now they resume their posture of true disciples by adoring the Risen Jesus. Yet, "some doubted"; in fact, the Greek might also be translated "they [i.e., all the eleven] doubted." We are not to ask why they doubted or how the doubt was overcome. Matthew is giving us a paradigm of what discipleship will always mean until the close of the age: believers caught between adoration and doubt ... it is Matthew's last reference to the problem of "little faith" (368-369).

If you're looking for a study of Matthew that might leave you feeling "hateful respect" (h/t Get Him to the Greek - yes, I went there!), this may be the book for you. Or you may love it through and through. Either way, you're in for a good time!

And once more, for good measure: MRRRRRRRRR@8(&^&%&^%^%$#())RRRRRRRRR!!!!