Incorporated Servanthood

Commitment and Discipleship in the Gospel of Matthew

Ben Cooper

• Publisher: T&T Clark
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN:
  9780567663047
• eBook ISBN:
  9780567445476
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Criticism & Interpretation

In this volume Ben Cooper analyses how commitment to God is described within the Gospel of Matthew, how this is related to becoming a disciple of Jesus, and how reading or hearing the Gospel works to evoke such a response. The analysis draws upon a variety of approaches in linguistics and literary studies in a new way to characterise the 'communicative equilibrium' between the author and the subset of readers who process the text compliantly.

Cooper argues that Matthew's Gospel evokes in its compliant readers a particular kind of theocentric commitment, which he calls 'incorporated Servanthood'. Such readers become persuaded that Jesus came to bring forgiveness of sins to the people of God and then to take this salvation out to the nations, a program that can be associated with Isaiah's Servant of the Lord. Compliant readers are humbled so they can be served by the Servant for the forgiveness of their sins. They are then incorporated into his program for the nations, to join in the task of incorporating others.

Table of contents

• CONTENTS
• Acknowledgments
• Abbreviations
• Chapter 1 -- COMMITMENT AND DISCIPLESHIP
• Commitment as a Relational Concept
• Commitment as a Theological Concept
• An Incomplete, Composite Portrait of Theocentric Commitment in Matthew
• The Contribution of the Current Study
• Outline of the Rest of the Study
• Chapter 2 -- METHODOLOGY AND METHOD
• Relevance Theory
• Game Theoretic Pragmatics and Beyond
• A ‘Pragmatic-critical’ Method
• Conclusion to Chapter 2
• Chapter 3 -- THEOCENTRIC COMMITMENT IN MATTHEW’S GOSPEL: THREE PREPARATORY CLAIMS
• The ‘Unboundedness’ of the Communication Event Generated by the Gospel
• The Relationship between Matthew’s Addressees and Jesus’ Addressees within the Narrative
• Some Preliminary Claims Concerning Matthew’s Eschatology and His ‘Implied Temporal Framework’
• Chapter 4 -- MATTHEW 1.1–10.42: REPENT (IN LIGHT OF THE NEARNESS OF THE KINGDOM)
• Matthew 1.1-17
• Matthew 1.18–2.23
• Matthew 3.1–4.22
• Focus on Matthew 3.2 and 4.17
• Matthew 4.23–9.38 as a Rhetorical Unit
• The Speech Giving Jesus’ First Instructions for Future Participants in His Servant Program
• Matthew 8.1–9.38
• Matthew 10.1-42: The Speech on Extended Kingdom Proclamation
• Conclusion to Chapter 4
• Chapter 5 -- MATTHEW 11.1–16.20: COME TO ME (DESPITE PREVALENT KINGDOM-BLINDNESS)
• Matthew 11–12
• Focus on Matthew 11.25-30
• Matthew 13
• Matthew 14.1–16.20
• Chapter 6 -- MATTHEW 16.21–28.15: TAKE UP YOUR CROSS (IN THE LIGHT OF THE COMING OF THE SON OF MAN)
• Matthew 16.21–20.34 (Including the Third General Exhortation in 16.24 and the Fourth Major Speech-complex in 18.1-35)
• Matthew 21.1–23.39
• Matthew 24.1–25.46: The Speech Encouraging Undiverted, Vigilant Servanthood to the End
• Matthew 26.1–28.15 (with a Preliminary Consideration of 28.16-20
• Chapter 7 -- MATTHEW 28.16-20: THEREFORE GO AND MAKE DISCIPLES
• The Resolution of Matthew’s ‘Plot’
• The Final Resolution of Matthew’s Implied Temporal Framework
• The Credibility of Matthew’s Promises and Warnings
• Matthew 28.16-20: The Command to Go and Make Disciples (also Known as ‘The Great Commission’)
• Chapter 8 -- CONCLUSION
• Review of the Construction and Application of the Method
• The Relationship between Matthew’s Eschatology, Christology and his Call to Discipleship
• Final Conclusions
• Bibliography
• Index of References
• Index of Authors