Abingdon New Testament Commentaries: Matthew

Book excerpt: The Abingdon New Testament Commentaries series provides compact, critical commentaries on the writings of the New Testament. These commentaries are written with special attention to the needs and interests of theological students, but they will also be useful for students in upper-level college or university settings, as well as for pastors and other religious leaders. In addition to providing basic information about the New Testament texts and insights into their meanings, these commentaries are intended to exemplify the tasks and procedures of careful, critical biblical exegesis.In this volume, Donald Senior unfolds the meaning of Matthew’s Gospel in its original context. The Gospel was written for an early Christian community caught in a moment of profound transition, striving to remain faithful to its Jewish heritage and facing a new and uncertain future in the Gentile world. Building on a lifetime of scholarship on this Gospel, Senior uses an array of methodologies to explore the literary, historical, and theological perspectives of Matthew in context. At the same time, he provides leads for the contemporary reader to note the interplay between Matthew’s Gospel and our own time and place. In the nexus between these two worlds of experiences, the message of the Gospel comes alive and takes on new meaning.