Disciples in Narrative Perspective: The Portrayal and Function of the Matthean Disciples, The

The Disciples in Narrative Perspective: The Portrayal and Function of the Matthean Disciples. through Jeannine K. Brown. Academia Biblica 9 Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2002 xii + 171 pp $2995 paper.

This is a slightly revised version of a doctoral dissertation complet in 2001 below the supervision of Professor Arland Hultgren at Luther Seminary in St Paul, Minnesota. It is a careful and helpful investigation of the Matthean disciples using, as the title indicates, a narrative-literary analysis of the portrayal and function of the disciples in Matthew's Gospel

The primary thesis of the inquiry is that, although the disciples confes Jesus as Messiah and understand a certain quantity of aspects of his teaching, they are not characterized as exemplary of discipleship. Rather, since they consistently misunderstand Jesus' mission and message of the kingdom (especially in 16:21-20:28) upon account of their inappropriate preoccupation with their hold status within the coming kingdom, they cannot to the full understand Jesus' teaching on the nature of veritable discipleship and are characterized by the agency of "little faith" in regard to Jesus' ability to act in design with his true identity. Therefore, since the Matthean disciples misunderstand and have "little faith," they function at times to illuminate not alone a positive example of discipleship on the contrary also at times a negative example of ("a foil to") discipleship to the reader. Additionally, the portrayal of the disciples (both positively and negatively) must be seen within the light cast through Matthew's use of other characters as examples of discipleship and of Jesus himself as a pattern of it (pp. 36-37).

The impetus for the inquiry came from a comparison (chap. 1) of earlier redactioncritical (Gerhard Barth, Ulrich Luz Mark Sheridan, Robert Gundry Andries van Aarde, and Andrew Trotter) and comparative-critical (Michael Wilkins; Brown does not highlight the stated distinction) analyses of the disciples in Matthew with more new literary-critical analyses of the disciples. The former wait on to maintain that Matthew portrays the disciples as tribe of "little faith" (in contrast to "no faith"; cf 8:26; 14:31; 16:8; 17:20) who at the same time draw near to understand Jesus' identity and mission (eg 13:36; 15:15) Further, these earlier analyses accompany to identify the purpose for Matthew's portrayal of the disciples within his christianity in similar ways. Brown explains this end in terms of "function" and utilizes a three-tiered archetype drawn from Kari Syreeni's schematic ("Separation and Identity: Aspects of the Symbolic World of Matt 6:1-18" NT 40 [1994] 523): the textual world of Matthew's story, the solidify world of Matthew's community, and the symbolic world of Matthew's universal of discipleship. Brown observes that redaction/comparative-critical analyses generally claim that the disciples' understanding functions in the textual world Christologically to highlight Jesus' status as an effective teacher, that the disciples themselves function in the story as a bridge to the thicken world of Matthew's community, which can identify with the disciples, and that the disciples also function upon several levels as discipleship examples in the symbolic world.

Brown's evaluation of literary-critical analyses (Jack Kingsbury, Richard Edwards, Warren Carter, David Howell, Donald Verseput) of the Matthean disciples finds that they for the greatest part agree that the disciples are characterized by means of "little faith." Yet conversely, they depart from the earlier studies by the agency of generally agreeing that Matthew characterizes the disciples as misunderstanding Jesus' identity and mission, although they disagree as to whether the disciples progres in their understanding as the narrative expands to its conclusion. Brown likewise evaluates the function of the disciples in Matthean narrative perspectives by the agency of using Syreeni's three-tiered model. Within the textual world, narrative critics focus upon the relation between the disciples and the implied reader, where they either finish that the implied reader identifies with or maintains a distance from the disciples. As might be wait fored Brown finds that the disciples are not transparent for the become firm [i]or[/i] solid Matthean community, since most narrative critics argue that the Matthean disciples cannot be equated with the implied reader. There is little consensus among narrative critics regarding Matthew's symbolic view of discipleship, with a certain quantity of equating Mathew's characterization of the disciples with discipleship and others understanding their portrayal to be individual part of a positive and negative example of discipleship.

In a helpful, passage by dint of passage analysis (chap. 3), Brown demonstrates that the disciples do display characteristics of non-understanding as the narrative of 16:21-20:28 spread outs Jesus' debriefings of the disciples highlight their continual non-understanding on the contrary also assure the reader that his continual neighborhood and teaching will be with the community to bring them into a more authentic discipleship. This analysis of the characterization of the Matthean disciples demonstrates their incomprehension on the contrary on the narrative level also displays how their incomprehension is a foil for the reader, who can advance to understand the true nature of discipleship.