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That Matthew uniquely highlights Jesus as Emmanuel is common knowledge among Gospel commentators. Almost wholly overlooked, however, are the deeper implications of this presence motif for the enterprise of Matthean christology, as well as its centripetal force on readers of the First Gospel. Matthews Emmanuel employs the lenses of both narrative and historical criticism to produce the first serious monograph in English on the subject of divine presence in Matthew. After giving primacy to a whole-story reading of Matthews presence motif, David Kupp follows the Emmanuel Messiah to his roots in the familiar social and literary contexts of Sinai, Jerusalem and the Jewish scriptures. Matthews development of those sources evolves Jesus saving presence into a defining christological role in the First Gospel. Matthew is a story that compels, a text with a history and a christological treatise of the Emmanuel Messiah.
List of contents
1. Introduction; 2. Matthew's narrative art; 3. Reading Matthew's story of divine presence; 4. Paradigms of presence in the Old Testament; 5. 'I am with you': the Old Testament tradition of the saying; 6. Matthew 1: the birth of the 'God-with-us' Messiah; 7. Matthew 18.1-20: the presence of Jesus and his ecclesia; 8. Matthew 28.16-20: the presence of the risen Jesus; 9. Jesus's presence and Matthew's Christology; 10. Conclusion.
Summary
This book was first published in 1996. Matthew uniquely highlights Jesus as 'Emmanuel', but almost wholly overlooked are the deeper implications of this 'presence' motif. Kupp takes a multi-disciplinary approach to the story telling, redaction and Christology of the Gospel.
