Sacra Pagina: The Gospel of Matthew

by Daniel J. Harrington, Matthew the Apostle

Matthew wrote his Gospel from his perspective as a Jew. It is with sensitivity to this perspective that Father Harrington undertakes this commentary on the Gospel of Matthew.

After an introduction, he provides a literal translation of each section in Matthew's Gospel and explains the textual problems, philological difficulties, and other matters in the notes. He then presents a literary analysis of each text (content, form, use of sources, structure), examines the text against its Jewish background, situates it in the context of Matthew's debate with other first-century Jews, and reflects on its significance for Christian theology and Christian-Jewish relations. Includes an updated bibliography and appendix.

Genres: Scripture, Biblical Studies, Reference, Religion, Theology, Biblical

448 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1980

About the author

Rev. Father Daniel J. Harrington, SJ, was a professor of New Testament studies and chairman of Biblical Studies at Boston College’s School of Theology and Ministry. He received a PhD in biblical languages and literatures from Harvard University. A past president of the Catholic Biblical Association, he wrote more than two dozen books about the Old Testament and the New Testament.

Reviews

[Adam Wilcox · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent commentary, particularly reliable as a source for comparative Second Temple material and key OT intertexts. Harrington argues convincingly throughout that Matthew is not to be understood as a supersessionist text, but that the first Gospel works with existing Jewish categories, especially from the prophets, to demonstrate the identity of Jesus as the Davidic Messiah.

[Thomas Creedy · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting commentary experience. Pub. 1991, but updated 2007. Fine layout apart from slightly annoying bullet point notes on text. Mostly the RC angle doesn’t get in the way - Q stuff more irritating. The format of having a few references at the end of each section for further reading is a nice touch to keep a commentary short/at a consistent level.

[Fr. Peter Calabrese]

Excellent - Balcanced between scholarship and spirituality.