For ten years, the well-received first edition of this introduction offered readers a way to look at scriptural texts that combines historical, narrative, and contemporary interests. Carter explores Matthew by approaching it from the perspective of the "authorial audience"--by identifying with and reading along with the audience imagined by the author. Now an updated second edition is available as part of a series focusing on each of the gospel writers as storyteller, interpreter, and evangelist. This edition preserves the essential identity of the original material, while adding new insights from Carter's more recent readings of Matthew's gospel in relation to the Roman Imperial world. Four of the seventeen chapters have been significantly revised, and most have had minor changes. There are also new endnotes directing readers to Carter's more recent published work on Matthew. Scholars and pastors will use the full bibliography and appendix on redaction and narrative approaches, while lay readers will appreciate the clear and straightforward text.

This volume describes the attitudes towards Gentiles in both ancient Judaism and the early Christian tradition. The Jewish relationship with and views about the Gentiles played an important part in Jewish self-definition, especially in the Diaspora where Jews formed the minority among larger Gentile populations. Jewish attitudes towards the Gentiles can be found in the writings of prominent Jewish authors (Josephus and Philo), sectarian movements and texts (the Qumran community, apocalyptic literature, Jesus) and in Jewish institutions such as the Jerusalem Temple and the synagogue. In the Christian tradition, which began as a Jewish movement but developed quickly into a predominantly Gentile tradition, the role and status of Gentile believers in Jesus was always of crucial significance. Did Gentile believers need to convert to Judaism as an essential component of their affiliation with Jesus, or had the appearance of the messiah rendered such distinctions invalid? This volume assesses the wide variety of viewpoints in terms of attitudes towards Gentiles and the status and expectations of Gentiles in the Christian church.

Jesus was a Jew. That simple statement carries with it a millennia of cultural bias, persecution, and ignorance. David Ray Bourquin attempts to shed some light on what it meant to be a Jew during the Roman Period with this detailed, annotated bibliography of works in English. Following a brief introduction and guide on how to use the book, Bourquin divides his work into three major sections: A. Primary Sources; B. Books; and C. Periodical and Serial Articles. In each section, materials are arranged by subject, and in each sub-section in alphabetical order by main entry. Entries include complete bibliographical data, plus concise, descriptive, and analytical annotations. A glossary and four detailed indexes, all correlated to entry numbers, complete the volume. Every student of the period will want a copy of this carefully compiled bibliography.

In the search for Matthean theology, scholars overwhelmingly approach the Gospel of Matthew as the "the most Jewish Gospel." Studies of its Sitz im Leben focus on its relationship to Judaism, whether arguing from the perspective that Matthew wrote from a cloistered Jewish community or as the leader of a Gentile rebellion against such a Jewish community. While this is undoubtedly an important and necessary discussion for understanding the Gospel, it often assumes too much about the relationship between Judaism and Hellenism (via Martin Hengel). Robert S. Kinney argues for a hybridized perspective in which Matthew's attention to Jewish sources and ideas is not denied, but in which echoes of Greek and Roman sources can be observed, focusing on identifying Matthew's use of rhetoric and its possible echoes of Greco-Roman philosophical disciple-gathering teachers.