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A Fresh Approach to the Miracle Stories in Matthew Loyola University Chicago Loyola eCommons Dissertations Theses and Dissertations 2012 A Fresh Approach to the Miracle Stories in Matthew 8-9: Literary Analysis Through the Literary Technique of Matthew's Three Stage Progression Pre-Supposedly Adopted by the First Evangelist Gwan Seuk Ryu Loyola University Chicago Follow this and additional works at: https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss Part of the Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons Recommended Citation Ryu, Gwan Seuk, "A Fresh Approach to the Miracle Stories in Matthew 8-9: Literary Analysis Through the Literary Technique of Matthew's Three Stage Progression Pre-Supposedly Adopted by the First Evangelist" (2012). Dissertations. 390. https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/390 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Copyright © 2012 Gwan Seuk Ryu LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO A FRESH APPROACH TO THE MIRACLE STORIES IN MATTHEW 8-9: LITERARY ANALYSIS THROUGH THE LITERARY TECHNIQUE OF MATTHEW’S THREE STAGE PROGRESSION PRE-SUPPOSEDLY ADOPTED BY THE FIRST EVANGELIST A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY PROGRAM IN THEOLOGY BY GWAN SEUK RYU CHICAGO, ILLINOIS AUGUST 2012 Copyright by Gwan Seuk Ryu, 2012. All rights reserved. TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES v LIST OF FIGURES vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vii ABSTRACT xi CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1 Collection of the Nine (or Ten) Miracle Stories in One Unit 3 Change of Order 6 Abbreviation 7 Doublets 10 CHAPTER TWO: HISTORY OF RESEARCH 14 Thematic Approaches 17 Narrative Approaches 49 New Approaches through Literary Techniques 94 Conclusion of History of Research 119 CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY: MATTHEW’S THREE STAGE PROGRESSION 121 Introduction 121 Matthew’s Three Stage Progression 122 MTSP in the Gospel of Matthew 130 MTSP as a New Tool 152 Matthew’s Three Stage Progression in MT 8-9 155 CHAPTER FOUR: MTSP IN THE FIRST CLUSTER 162 The Main Theme 162 The First Cluster (8:1-17): “Jesus, the Merciful Healing Messiah” 166 Conclusion of the First Cluster 266 CHAPTER FIVE: MTSP IN THE SECOND CLUSTER 268 The Preface of the Cluster: The First Intervening Pericopae (Matt 8:18-22) 268 The Second Cluster (8:23-9:8): “Jesus, the Divine Being” 274 Conclusion of the Second Cluster 329 CHAPTER SIX: MTSP IN THE THIRD CLUSTER 331 The Preface to the Cluster: The Second Intervening Pericopae iii (Matt 9:9-17) 331 The Third Cluster (9:18-34): “Spread of Jesus’ Fame” 336 Conclusion of the Third Cluster 396 CHAPTER SEVEN: CONCLUSION 398 Summary 398 How MTSP Answers Current Scholarly Debates 403 Applications of the MTSP Structure 406 Suggestions for Future Study 410 BIBLIOGRAPHY 412 VITA 433 iv LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Parallels of Matthew 8-9 and Mark 2 Table 2. Comparison of the Triad and MTSP 129 v LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Lohr’s Structure of the Gospel of Matthew 99 Figure 2. Olsson’s Chiastic Structure of Mt 8:14-15 249 vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AB Anchor Bible AJSLL American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures ATJ Ashland Theological Journal ATR Anglican Theological Review AUS American University Studies BAGD W. Bauer, W.F. Arnder, F.W. Gingrich, and F.W. Danker, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 7th ed. BW The Biblical World BNTC Black’s New Testament Commentaries BS Biblica Sacra BT The Bible Translator BTB Biblical Theology Bulletin BZ Biblische Zeitschrift CBQ Catholic Biblical Quarterly CC Continental Commentary CJ The Classical Journal CNT Commentaire du Nouveau Testament CSCA California Studies in Classical Antiquity vii CTM Currents in Theology and Mission DR Downside Review EBC Expositor’s Bible Commentary EBib Erudes Bibliques EvanQ Evangelical Quarterly ExpTim Expository Times FCHBNT Feminist Companion to the Hebrew Bible in the New Testament HNT Handbuch zum Neuen Testament HTKNT Herders theologischer Kommentar zum Neuen Testament HTR Harvard Theological Review HTS Hervormde Teologiese Studies ICC International Critical Commentary JAAR Journal of American Academy of Religion JBL Journal of Biblical Literature JECBS A Journal for Early Christian and Byzantine Studies JETS Journal of Evangelical Theological Society JR Journal of Religion JRS Journal of Roman Studies JSJ Journal for the Study of Judaism JSNT Journal for the Study of the New Testament JSNTSup Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement Series JTS Theological Studies viii MNTC Moffat New Testament Commentary NAC New American Commentary NCB New Century Bible NDNT New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology NIGTS The New International Greek Testament Commentary NovT Novum Testamentum NRT La nouvelle revue theologique NTD Das Neue Testament Deutsch NTM New Testament Message NTS New Testament Studies PC Pillar Commentary P-EGLMBS Proceedings of Eastern Great Lakes and Midwest Biblical Societies PTR Pittsburgh Theological Review REA Revue des Etudes Anciennes RNT Regensburger Neue Tetstament SB Scriptura Bulletin SE Studia Evangelica SP Sacra Pagina STK Svensk Teologisk Kvartalskrift THKNT Theologischer Handkommentar zum Neuen Testament TJT Toronto Journal of Theology TNTC Tyndale New Testament Commentaries TynB Tyndale Bulletin ix TZ Theologische Zeitschrift WBC Word Biblical Commentary WLQ Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly WWSup Word & World Supplement Series ZNW Zeitschrift fűr die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft ZNWKK Zeitschrift fűr die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der älteren Kirche ZTK Zeitschrift fűr Theologie und Kirche x ABSTRACT The structure of Matthew 8-9 is very complex, and there is no unanimous understanding. If we use Matthew’s Three Stage Progression (MTSP), a writing technique that is frequently found in the Gospel of Matthew, we can explain the intention of Matthew 8-9 more clearly than any other existing explanations. Matthew supposedly arranged the nine miracle stories progressively in three clusters (8:1-17; 8:23-9:8; 9:18- 26). Those three clusters are divided by two intervening pericopae (8:18-22; 9:9-17). The first cluster describes Jesus as the merciful healing Messiah. Jesus heals every disease he encounters. In the second cluster, Jesus is more than that; he is the divine being who commands the nature, the demons and even sins. The third cluster concludes the narrative section by emphasizing the spread of Jesus’ news. Each cluster of Matthew 8-9 also has a MTSP structure, though the arrangement does not demonstrate the progression as clearly as the three clusters. The three miracle stories of the first cluster are arranged progressively according to the objects of Jesus’ mercy as the healing Messiah: a leper, a Gentile, a woman without any request. The second cluster demonstrates Jesus’ divinity through the progressive arrangement of the three stories: obedience of the nature and the demons and Jesus’ forgiving of sins. Finally the three miracle stories of the third cluster are also arranged progressively according to xi the development of the spread of Jesus’ fame: the spread of Jesus fame, the spread of Jesus’ fame in spite of Jesus’ prohibition and the division between the crowds and the Pharisees. The analysis of Matthew 8-9 through MTSP gives the advantage of clarifying the intention of Matthew 8-9: Matthew 8-9 demonstrates a progressive development of Jesus’ identity. This structure shows that Matthew 8-9 was written from the viewpoint of Christology rather than Ecclesiology and the tight structure denies the possibility of thematic approaches or narrative-discourse approaches. xii CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION Heinz J. Held’s groundbreaking article in 1963, “Matthew as Interpreter of the Miracle Stories,” examines the evidence that leads him to state, “Matthew does not simply hand on the tradition as he receives it but retells it.”1 This investigation of Matthew’s redaction has been a major issue in the study of Matthew 8-9.2 In other words, the study of the meaning of the miracles in the light of the form criticism of Rudolf Bultmann3 and Martin Dibelius,4 the miracles found in Matthew 8-9 recognize the importance of “studying Matthew in terms of Matthew.”5 Presuming the Two Source Hypothesis, the analysis of Matthean redaction is 1 Heinz Joachim Held, “Matthew as Interpreter of the Miracle Stories,” Tradition and Interpretation in Matthew, eds. Günther Bornkamm, Gerhard Barth, Heinz Joachim Held (trans. P. Scott; Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1963), 165-299, here 165. 2 Many scholars have asked the same questions using different expressions. For example, Ulrich Luz describes the same idea in this way, “What is behind the liberties Matthew takes with the tradition?” (“Die Wundergeschichten von Mt 8-9,” in Tradition and Interpretation in the New Testament: Essays in Honor of E. Earle Ellis [eds. Gerald F. Hawthorne & Otto Betz; Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmanns Publishing Co., 1987], 222). Alistair Stewart-Sykes “suggests a reading of these [miracle] chapters in the overall context of Matthew’s narrative purpose” (“Matthew’s ‘Miracle Chapters:’ From Composition to Narrative, and Back Again,” in SB 25 [1995], 55). Dale C. Allison thinks, “it is essential to let the text of Matthew speak for itself” (Matthew 1-7 [New York: T&T Clark, 1988], 2). 3 Rudolf Bultmann, The History of the Synoptic Tradition. trans. John Marsh (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1972) 2nd ed., 209-234. 4 Martin Dibelius, From Tradition to Gospel. trans. Bertram L. Woolf (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1967), 37-69. 5 William G. Thompson coined this phrase (“Reflections on the Composition of MT 8:1-9:34,” CBQ 33 [1971], 366) which aptly applies to so many Matthean scholars, as this dissertation will illustrate in detail (My emphasis).
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