Abstract
Baasland has written a major study that brings the insights of recent study of parables to bear on the text of Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount. In particular, he analyses the rhetorical force of parabolic language for understanding the composition, structure and message of the Matthean Sermon.
The book is arranged in nine chapters. The first introduces the contemporary scholarship on parable research and makes the case that such research has largely neglected to consider the Sermon on the Mount. One of Baasland’s fundamental propositions is that, ‘[i]t is too little observed that about one third of the SM are parable or metaphorical language. Already the statistics indicate that the parables or the metaphorical language must have an impact on the understanding of the SM’ (p. 4). After discussing some of the difficulties and competing formulations in defining parables, Baasland looks at the place of rhetoric in the Sermon on the Mount, especially with reference to the intended audience for each sub-unit (pp. 26–35). Baasland describes the understanding of the Sermon on the Mount in the twentieth century as largely dominated by a shift towards an eschatological interpretation. By contrast, Baasland advocates a wisdom-based approach that is indebted to the work of Windisch.
Chapters two to eight form the heart of the discussion and are characterized by a close and detailed reading of the text. In relation to the opening section of the Sermon on the Mount (Mt 5.3–10[12]), Baasland classifies this as an exordium or a proem and notes that it presents the overall tenor of the sermon, and hence parables would be out of place in this introductory unit (p. 45). However, it is noted that metaphorical language is present. The purpose of this ‘prologue’ is to provide ‘the exegetical keys to the rest of the sermon’ (p. 66). He sees this as being followed by a propositio (Matt 5.12–20), which announces the key message of the text. Baasland argues that there are two parts to this section, yet they present the same focus: ‘The set of entrance-requirements in the Beatitudes comes first, then the audience is challenged to be salt and light based on a new understanding of the Law’ (p. 131). Next Baasland turns to the so-called antitheses (Matt 5.21–48). He suggests that the antitheses ‘are not designed to be alternatives to the Torah’ (p. 289), but at the same time he notes that the antitheses ‘supersede even more the principle of lex talionis’, and that they ‘supersede the interpretations of the Pharisees and Scribes on the fifth and sixth commandments of the Decalogue’ (p. 290). Therefore, Baasland identifies a fundamentally new logic behind the Sermon on the Mount that promotes the values of generosity and forgiveness.
Baasland’s close analysis of the text leads him to assert that the ethics in the Sermon on the Mount have a wisdom characteristic, and that the purpose is to move disciples in a certain direction of behaviour. Thus he concludes, ‘[t]he extensive use of parables demonstrates that the SM seeks to shape the follower’s lifestyle according to a profound wisdom’ (p. 630). While wondering whether too absolute a dichotomy has been drawn between wisdom and eschatology, Baasland’s work is a massive achievement. It will be widely and profitably consulted by all who undertake further work on the Sermon on the Mount.