Matthew's reconfiguring of salvation in a context of oppression
Date
2020
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
African Sun Media
Abstract
Socio-historically both the story of Jesus narrated by Matthew, and the community he
wrote for, can be located within Rome’s sphere of influence (Wainwright, 2017:30).2
According to Jonker (2018:6), it is important to take both these contexts (the world in
and behind the text) into consideration when interpreting the biblical text in Africa.
In reading the biblical text simply with a comparative paradigm, as is often done in
studies undertaken by African scholars, a direct relationship between the world(s)
constructed in the text and various African contexts is often assumed. Jonker has
instead argued for an analogical paradigm that relates the textual communication
to its socio-historical setting of communication (the world behind the text). While
both the setting of Matthew’s story and that of Matthew’s communication must
therefore be taken into consideration, the point of departure should be the contextual
engagement of the constructed realities with the social-historical circumstances of
the time of textual formation (Jonker, 2018:12–13).
Matthew’s story of Jesus (the world in the text) is primarily set in Roman-occupied
Galilee and Judea with its protagonist, in the words of Sim (2012:73), ultimately
“brutally executed in Roman fashion by Roman soldiers on the orders of the local
Roman governor.” The composition of the Gospel itself occurred approximately two
decades after the disastrous Jewish revolt against Rome. In this period its audience
would have been exposed to a relentless Roman propaganda campaign3 that sought
to humiliate the defeated Jewish people with which Matthew’s community had a
close association (Sim, 2012:63, 73). While it is a speculative enterprise to attempt to
reconstruct the precise social history of a text like the Gospel of Matthew (the world
behind the text) in terms of its patterns of scriptural citation, it remains important
to read it in terms of the broad context of its protagonist and initial readers. It is clear from Matthew that they were subject to the economic exploitation, political
oppression, military power and idolatry that characterised the Roman Empire (Hays,
2016:108; Sim, 2012:73).
Description
CITATION: Nel, M. J. 2020. Matthew's reconfiguring of salvation in a context of oppression, in Nel, M. J., Forster, D. A. & Thesnaar, C. H. (eds.) 2020. Reconciliation, forgiveness and violence in Africa : biblical, pastoral and ethical perspectives. Stellenbosch: SUN PReSS, doi:10.18820/9781928480532/01.
The original publication is available from AFRICAN SUNMeDIA - www.sun-e-shop.co.za
The original publication is available from AFRICAN SUNMeDIA - www.sun-e-shop.co.za
Keywords
Bible Matthew -- Criticism, interpretation, etc, Salvation -- Biblical teaching, Oppression
Citation
Nel, M. J. 2020. Matthew's reconfiguring of salvation in a context of oppression, in Nel, M. J., Forster, D. A. & Thesnaar, C. H. (eds.) 2020. Reconciliation, forgiveness and violence in Africa : biblical, pastoral and ethical perspectives. Stellenbosch: SUN PReSS, doi:10.18820/9781928480532/01.