Matthew

In the preface the author makes some illuminating remarks concerning the development of his own ideas as well as the Chalice Commentaries for Today series as such. He sees this commentary on Matthew as a systematic development of what he started with in 1978 with the publication of Christology beyond Dogma: Matthews Christ in Process Hermeneutic. He also pays tribute to Will Beardslee and other colleagues who were involved in developing a process approach for biblical interpretation. This approach is also testified to by a selected bibliography on process thought at the back of the commentary, besides the usual list of works cited. The introduction highlights a number of important issues, mapping out the approach taken in the commentary and giving valuable guidelines on the authors basic points of departure to the envisaged readers of the series. In the light of the failure in the past of biblical scholarship to treat the Gospel of Matthew adequately as a story, Pregeant seeks to do justice to both the narratological and the theological dimensions of Matthew. This entails dealing with Matthew as story, proclamation, and as theology. In view of the audience of the series, the author only very briefly deals with the two-source theory and the implications of Markan priority for interpreting Matthew. [Full Review]