Full Description
The Gospel of Matthew is considered to be the "gospel of the church". It is therefore of great importance in times of redefinition of the relationship between the Church and Israel. Hence, research asks about the position of this book on Judaism at the time. The present study is committed to this question. With reference to new Judaic research and by carefully examining the key passages in the Gospel of Matthew, the study comes to the conclusion that the Gospel of Matthew is entirely native to Judaism. The study focuses on texts that deal with halachic questions - that is, questions about the design of Jewish existence in everyday life. Particular attention is paid to Mt 5 with the basic explanation of the meaning of the Torah along with the comment words and Mt 23. In both chapters, Matthäus proves to be a committed and competent participant in the inner-Jewish discourse on the Halacha. This is shown in detail in the statements on swearing (5.33-37 and 23.16-22). For this purpose, the extensive source material on the oath practice (and for discussion about it) from the biblical foundations via papyrological testimonies, Qumran, Philo and Josephus to the Tannaite sources is evaluated. In this stream of an increasingly critical reflection on swearing, the Matthaic statements with their own emphases are seamlessly arranged. In addition to the detailed discussion of this topic, which is both theologically and legally meaningful, there are views of other halachic areas. It shows that Matthew is also in the inner-Jewish discourse in questions of the Sabbath, Purity or Divorce Halacha, both formally and in terms of content. The "gospel of the church" is therefore a Jewish book. Thoughts on the importance of this result for church life today round off the study.
