Households and Discipleship: A Study of Matthew 19-20

257 Pages·12.03 MB·English

by  Warren Carter

l i b r a ry o f n e w t e s ta m e n t s t u d i e s

HouseHolds
and disciplesHip
a study of Matthew 19–20

warren carter
JOURNAL FOR THE STUDY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
SUPPLEMENT SERIES
103
Executive Editor
Stanley E. Porter
Editorial Board
Richard Bauckham, David Catchpole, R. Alan Culpepper,
Joanna Dewey, James D.G. Dunn, Craig A. Evans, Robert Fowler,
Robert Jewett, Elizabeth Struthers Malbon, Dan O. Via
JSOT Press
Sheffield

Households
and Discipleship
A Study of Matthew 19-20
Warren Carter
Journal for the Study of the New Testament
Supplement Series 103
Copyright © 1994 Sheffield Academic Press
Published by JSOT Press
JSOT Press is an imprint of
Sheffield Academic Press Ltd
343 Fulwood Road
Sheffield S10 3BP
England
Typeset by Sheffield Academic Press
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library
EISBN 9781850754930
CONTENTS
Preface 9
Abbreviations 11
Chapter 1
THE COHERENCY OF MATTHEW 19-20 AND MATT HAEAN
DISCIPLESHIP? 15
1. The Coherency of Chapters 19-20? 17
2. A Coherent Understanding of Matthaean Discipleship? 22
3. The Questions of this Study 29
Chapter 2
METHODS 30
1. Audience-Oriented Criticism 31
2. Historical Criticism 39
3. A Social Science Model 46
4. Matthaean Discipleship as Liminal Existence 52
5. Summary 55
Chapter 3
MARRIAGE, DIVORCE AND REMARRIAGE: MATTHEW 19.3-12 56
1. Matthew 19.3-12 56
2. The Authorial Audience's Knowledge of Marriage, Divorce
and Household Structures 72
3. Towards the Function of Matthew 19.3-12: Changing Social
Attitudes and Practices 82
4. The Function of Matthew 19.3-12 87
Chapter 4
CHILDREN, HOUSEHOLD STRUCTURES AND DISCIPLESHIP:
MATTHEW 19.13-15 90
1. Matthew 19.13-15 90
Households and Discipleship
2. The Authorial Audience's Knowledge of Children 95
3. Matthew's Jesus, Children and Discipleship 113
Chapter 5
DISCIPLESHIP AND WEALTH: MATTHEW 19.16-30 115
1. Matthew 19.16-30 115
2. The Authorial Audience's Knowledge of Wealth
and Possessions 127
3. Wealth, Discipleship and liminal Identity 144
Chapter 6
THE PARABLE OF THE HOUSEHOLDER: MATTHEW 20.1-16 146
1. The Parable in the Context of Chapters 19-20 146
2. Structure 150
3. The Parable's Redefinition of 'What is Right' 152
4. The Parable and the Kingdom 158
Chapter 7
'IT SHALL NOT BE SO AMONG YOU': MATTHEW 20.17-28 161
1. Matthew 20.17-28 161
2. The Authorial Audience's Knowledge of Rule and Slavery 172
3. Slavery and Discipleship 189
Chapter 8
OPENING EYES: MATTHEW 20.29-34 193
1. Preliminary Observations 193
2. Literary Contexts 195
3. The Function of the Story 198
4. Summary 203
Chapter 9
CONCLUSION 204
1. Summary of Argument 204
2. Whv a Liminal Identity? 205
3. The Identity and Lifestyle of the Actual Audience:
The Relationship between Text and Socio-Historical
Context 211
4. The Contribution of the Study and Further Areas for
Investigation 214
Contents 7
Select Bibliography 219
Index of References 229
Index of Authors 244

PREFACE
This study of Matthew 19-20 addresses two questions: (1) How can
the puzzling sequence of pericopes in chs. 19-20 be understood?
(2) How does the content of chs. 19-20 contribute to the coherent
concept of Matthaean discipleship which the audience gains in its inter-
action with this narrative? In investigating the interaction between the
authorial audience and chs. 19-20, I use three methods: audience-
oriented criticism (especially W. Iser and P.J. Rabinowitz), historical
criticism and a social science model, Turner's concept of permanent or
normative liminality.
I argue a double thesis. (1) In chs. 19-20 the audience encounters a
series of pericopes which employ the four standard subjects of house-
hold codes: the rule of husband over wife, of father over children, of
master over slave, and the task of acquiring wealth. This pattern, though,
is employed only to be subverted. The audience hears the rejection of
the household code's hierarchical and patriarchal assumptions and
practices as Matthew's Jesus advocates what could be called, somewhat
anachronistically, more egalitarian patterns for disciples. The audience
thus hears a proposal for an alternative household pattern which
contrasts with the conventional hierarchical household patterns of late
first-century Antiochene society.
(2) Furthermore, I argue that this understanding of an alternative
household structure forms an integral part of a coherent understanding
of discipleship gained by the audience through hearing the Gospel
narrative. I argue that this understanding of discipleship can best be
identified by Victor Turner's concept of 'normative/permanent' or
'ideological' liminality. That is, Matthaean discipleship is to be marked
by a transition from the call of Jesus to the new world fully instigated at
his return, by an anti-structure existence which opposes hierarchical
social structures, and by an existence on the margins of society as social
participants yet as those with a different focus and lifestyle.
In its first draft, this work comprised my PhD dissertation (Princeton