Here is a delightful treatment of the early church’s marginality, from the perspective of Matthew’s gospel as a work of resistance. The gospel shapes the minority community’s identity and life style as an alternative community to resist the dominant Roman imperial and synagogical theological control, anticipating G-d’s reign over all (synagogue and empire)(p xvii).
Carter focuses his analysis on the social functions of ‘centre’ and ‘margins’. Matthew is written to those at the social margins, with the synagogue and empire at the centre (he points out the contemporary relevance—the church in the west is becoming increasingly marginalized. ‘G-d’s blessing resides not in knowing the emperor or the central elite but in experiencing G-d’s empire’ (p 4).
(Matthew must be read carefully; Matthew’s criticism of the culture has issues of ethnicity, gender and power that need careful delineation: all Jewish leaders are hypocrites, men are focused on more than women, the use of violence against those who resist.)
Read more ›