Review in: Theology Today 2008 65: 133
Review door: Dale C. Allison,
Jr.Gevonden op: http://ttj.sagepub.com/content/65/1/133.full.pdf+html
Matthew 1-7: A Commentary
Ulrich LuzMinneapolis: Fortress, 2007.
432 pp. $75.00.
Ulrich
Luz, professor emeritus at the University of Bern in Switzerland, is perhaps today’s
premier scholar of Matthew’s Gospel. The first installment of his monumental
four-volume commentary for the Evungelisch-Kutholischer
Kommentur zum Neuen Testament series
appeared in 1985, the last in 2002. In 1989, Augsburg published Wilhelm C.
Linss’s English translation of the first volume, which covered chapters 1-7.
Now James E. Crouch has translated for the Hermeneia series and Fortress Press
the complete commentary, which appears in English as three volumes instead of
four. The first volume covers chapters 1-7, the second, chapters 8-20, the
third, chapters 21-28.
The
present incarnation of volume 1 in English is not a revision of Linss’s work
but rather a fresh translation of the fifth German edition. Accordingly, this volume
differs considerably from the earlier English edition and renders the earlier
version obsolete. Changes include adaptation to the Hermeneia series format;
black-and-white prints of works of art; updated bibliographies and numerous
references to more recent scholarship (up to 1998 for chapters 3-7, up to 2000
for the introduction and chapters 1-2); several expanded reviews of the history
of interpretation; fuller discussion of several topics (e.g., Matthew’s structure
and its literary genre and literary strategies); new exegetical judgments (e.g.,
Luz now recognizes I:1 as the title of the entire Gospel, not just the heading
for 1 :2-25); and indices of texts, Greek
words, subjects, and authors.
Luz
proceeds pericope by pericope. Each section opens with a citation of secondary literature (no attempt is made to be
exhaustive) and then a translation. Analysis follows, which here consists of
observations on the structure of each relevant passage, conclusions about its
sources, redaction, and traditionhistory, as well as, on occasion, judgments
regarding origins. Then there is the interpretation proper, which typically
unfolds verse by verse. Most sections end with a review, often lengthy, of the
history of interpretation.
Luz’s
greatest contribution lies in his instructive and fascinating examinations of
the history of interpretation. These are learned overviews, often with personal
theological evaluation, of what the reading of Matthew has wrought over two
thousand years. Luz does not, moreover, confine himself to reviewing commentaries.
He is equally concerned with a text’s “history of influence,” which for him
means understanding how Matthew has been “received and actualized in media
other than commentaries-in verbal media such as sermons, canonical documents,
and ‘literature,’ as well as in nonverbal media such as art and music, and in
the church’s activity and suffering, that is, in church history.” In short, Luz
is interested in “the effective power of the texts themselves.”
Reviews
of the history of the interpretation and influence of a text are, for Luz, of
more than antiquarian interest. They are rather an integral part of faithful interpretation.
Such reviews help “to shed light on one’s own locus of understanding and thus
contribute to one’s own modern understanding at precisely this locus. Such an
understanding is always contextual and always partly new and different,
although-or, more accurately, precisely becausewhat is at stake is an
understanding of the ancient biblical texts that are permanently given to us.”
Luz wants to recover older, precritical readings precisely in order to
understand how the contemporary church should appropriate Matthew-which is why
at several points one runs across a subsection titled “Meaning for Today.” Luz
wants to pass beyond traditional historicalcritical questions and answers and
bring Matthew’s text into our present world.
If one
is interested in traditional historical-critical issues, then other
commentaries on Matthew will prove to be of equal value. But if one is
interested in how readers through the ages have understood and appropriated
Matthew, then Luz is without peer. Theologians will find much for serious
reflection here. Pastors preparing sermons will find the exegesis prudent and
helpful and the sections on “the history of interpretation” invaluable and full
of suggestions for practical application.
Dale C. Allison Jr.
Pittsburgh Theological Seminary
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
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