Reviews Of Books -- By: Anonymous
Journal: Westminster Theological Journal
Volume: WTJ 82:1 (Spring 2020)
Article: Reviews Of Books
Author: Anonymous
WTJ 82:1 (Spring 2020) p. 175
Reviews Of Books
Patrick Schreiner, Matthew, Disciple, and Scribe: The First Gospel and Its Portrait of Jesus. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2019. Pp. xiv + 289. $29.99, paper.
A growing interest in the sapiential overtone of Matthew’s narrative has been awaiting further academic treatment. As one of the works that meet such a need, Patrick Schreiner’s recent publication aims to “look at the narrative of Matthew as a whole,” rather than through it (p. 9), and bring into view both the narrative presentation of Matthew’s portrait as a scribe and his presentation of Jesus’ portrait. In other words, Schreiner contends that, first, “a close analysis of Matt. 13:52 reveals that Matthew becomes a teacher in the style of Jesus” (pp. 1–2), and that, second, this scribe-teacher Matthew, in writing about his sage-teacher Jesus’ life, incorporates “the new (found in Jesus), and the old (how Jesus’ life fulfilled the story of Israel)” (p. 2). The first two chapters (Part 1) of the seven-chapter work cover the former and lay the foundation for the latter. The following five chapters (Part 2) treat Matthew’s portrait of Jesus as the Davidic king (chs. 3–4), Moses (ch. 5), Abraham (ch. 6), and Israel (ch. 7). Thus, as Schreiner argues, Matthew interweaves the newness of Jesus with Jesus’ fulfillment of the old.
In Part 1, entitled “The Scribe Described,” Schreiner attempts to draw a picture of Matthew as the discipled scribe in Matt 13:52. In chapter 1, his argument for the discipled scribe (γραμματεὺς μαθητευθείς), the concept on which Matthew’s self-portrayal is mainly based, presents Jesus as a teacher of wisdom, that is, a sage. In so doing, Schreiner, on the one hand, indirectly suggests Matthew’s role as a scribe who “is gifted in knowledge and wisdom by … [the teacher of wisdom] Jesus” (p. 13). On the other hand, Schreiner argues for Matthew’s self-description as a scribe by comparing Matthew’s role with a profile of scribes reconstructed through historical research. For Schreiner, four characteristic scribal activities that “illuminate Matthew’s composition [as a scribe]” are: (1) learning, (2) writing/interpreting, (3) distributing, and (4) teaching (p. 22). His brief yet informative survey on the historical background of scribal activities sheds light on the broadness of the work of scribes and helps readers to situate the First Gospel in its first-century setting. With his brief survey Schreiner heightens the possibility of classifying Matthew under the broad category of scribe. Though agreeing on the possibility of Schreiner’s portrait of Matthew, I am not wholly convince...
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