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DALE C. ALLISON, JR., Studies in Matthew: Interpretation Past and Present (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2005). Pp. 282. $34.99.
This collection of studies by Dale C. Allison is a superb example of Matthean scholarship and innovative interpretation. More than half of the thirteen chapters are new material; the remainder are thoroughly reworked versions of earlier published studies.
In part 1, A. demonstrates why contemporary interpreters should pay attention to the work of earlier generations, particularly that of the early Church Fathers. For example, in "The Magi's Angel" (chap. 1), he shows how knowledge of ancient cosmology, including Jewish, Greco-Roman, and early Christian perspectives, makes the modern attempt to find an astronomical explanation for the star in Matthew 2 wide of the mark. These ancients believed that stars were animate creatures and Jewish and Christian interpretation often understood the stars to be equivalent to angels. That an "angel/star" guided the Magi right to the birthplace of Jesus is a plausible explanation for both the evangelist's and the audience's understanding of this phenomenon. Similarly, "seeing God" in the Beatitude of Matt 5:8 (chap. 2), a phrase usually skipped over in many modern commentaries, prompts a review of early Christian interpretation of this text, with views ranging from the corporeality of God to Jesus' own divine status. Cyprian's reference to the story of Cain and Abel in Gen 4:1-16 as an explanation of the prohibition of anger against one's brother in Matt 5:21-24 (chap. 3) opens up a fruitful explanation of...