Ian Boxall,Discovering Matthew: Content,Interpretation,Reception,Discovering series

Ruth B. Edwards, Discovering John: Content, Interpretation, Reception, 2nd edn, SPCK: London, 2014; 256 pp.: 9780281069699, £19.99 (pbk)

Fittingly perhaps, bearing in mind both their common gospel subject matter and the parallels/similarities found within the respective Matthean and Johaninne traditions, these two companion volumes share family resemblances, but without being what one might call ‘twins’. Both books are part of the Discovering Biblical Texts (DBT) series, and thereby serve as comprehensive introductions to the respective Gospel accounts, covering salient matters in respect of the texts’ content and interpretation. Edwards’s Johannine volume is a second edition of a well-used and well-regarded book published a decade or so earlier (and expanded to engage with recent developments in Johannine scholarship). Boxall’s version is a first edition, though its format, shape and style are akin to that found in its John counterpart.

The Matthew volume covers much ground that is familiar, or, at least, discusses the particular categories one might expect of such an introductory guide. There is the standard consideration of textual sources and origins, and the Gospel’s wider provenance, along with further discussion of the actual content of the Gospel itself, with separate chapters on Jesus as teacher, healer and fulfiller of Torah. Unsurprisingly, there are also dedicated and self-standing chapters on the Matthean Jesus’ birth, passion and resurrection: the one given over to the birth narrative is particularly worth reading, if only for drawing out the variety of interpretative questions that that unit raises (Boxall actually prefers to call Matt. 1—2 a ‘narrative of origins’ rather than a birth narrative). Reception history also features strongly in the discourse, and Boxall is attentive to how being Matthew is read; as the book’s subtitle suggests, the Gospel’s reception is a core ingredient of the book’s concerns (and, indeed, that of the series as a whole). Particular attention is given to the Opus imperfectum ‘commentary’ on Matthew – a text that would, one suspects, be reasonably unfamiliar to most readers.

Boxall’s final chapter attempts to draw out some larger issues for contemporary Matthean scholarship, and offers some wider food for thought (e.g. the sheer plurality of possible interpretations of the Gospel or its complex structural interweaving). In such an analysis, Boxall does not offer any huge surprises, but his analysis is sound, and one might suggest that the final chapter is actually worth reading first, as it prepares the uninitiated reader for the diversity and complexities that Matthean interpretation generates.

Edwards’s volume expands on its first edition, while retaining its core function as a sound introduction to the Fourth Gospel. Her content is of a similar shape to that of the Matthew book; the opening chapters consider familiar questions of origin and authorship, and Edwards steers the reader through the standard debates around the Beloved Disciple or the existence – or otherwise – of the Johannine community. She also devotes a significant portion of the book to John’s presentation of Jesus and its associated Christology, before moving into questions of the Gospel’s relationship to Judaism, and particularly those allegations as to its anti-Semitic character. Edwards rejects the notion that John is anti-Semitic (i.e., the text ‘does not deliberately incite hatred against Jewish people simply because they are Jews’ (p. 163)), but she recognizes that the text could be read as anti-Jewish by virtue of the repeated and unspecified use of ‘the Jews’ throughout the Gospel. Here, and in her discussion of other Johannine matters, Edwards adopts a fair and irenic tone; she makes clear her own position on the matter in hand, but gives plenty of consideration to other views, and to the (good) reasons why others hold them. A case in point is her discussion of the recent work, particularly that of Richard Bauckham, which proposes that the Fourth Gospel derives from eyewitness testimony (this discussion forms one of two excurses at the end of the book – the other being on text critical matters – specifically added in the second edition). Edwards is clearly not persuaded by the eyewitness proposal, but does give it a fair and consistent hearing.

Both books are aimed, one assumes, at an undergraduate or informed lay audience. As such, the contours of key questions or points of debate are named and examined (e.g. the relationship between John’s Jesus and Jewish festivals), and there is then some initial exploration of the particular matter in hand. Generally speaking, though, one would need to go elsewhere (guided by the frequent bibliographical steers) to find a more sustained and detailed engagement with the topic. Space, and the nature of the introductory volume, surely precludes any more advanced level of engagement. Yet this means that the format of the volumes is ideal for their kind of anticipated reader. One can locate what one is looking for with relative ease, either through chapters/subheadings or via the comprehensive indices. Both books also offer plenty of suggestions for further reading, but ensure that the reader does not drown in the technicalities of deep scholarship. All in all, the volumes offer an ideal start to the DBT series, and one assumes that Markan and Lucan siblings will soon follow.