Bible Study: Parody and Subversion in Matthew's Gospel
Bible Study: Parody and Subversion in Matthew's Gospel
Episodes
Episode 1: A Parody of Pedigree: Matthew 1:1-16
In this episode, I describe how the genealogy in Matthew is actually a parody of a genealogy. In the gospel in which Jesus instructs his followers to "call no one on earth 'father,'" this list of fathers is intentionally ironic.I also t...
Episode 2: The Virgin Birth, Matthew 1:18-25
The "virgin birth" of Jesus, the title "Son of God," and the concept of the forgiveness of sins all had resonances in the first century Mediterranean world that they no longer have today. Understanding what those terms and concepts signaled, as...
Episode 3: Matthew As Parody
This episode is the only one that will not look at one particular text (all the other episodes will continue progressively through Matthew), but rather at the book as a whole. I make the argument in this episode that the whole Gospel of Matthew...
Episode 4: The Magi, Matthew 2:1-12
The story of the Magi evokes sentimental, feel good memories of Christmas for many of us, but this story, for its original audience, signaled hopes of liberation from a brutal occupation.
Episode 5: The Flight into Egypt, Matthew 2:13-18
In this episode, Jesus and his family become refugees. Fleeing their home country, which is under the brutal occupation of a foreign empire, they take refuge in Egypt, which, according to their national history, was both the place of their peop...