Abstract:
This article argues that the
Gospel of Matthew should be interpreted as a commentary on Mark in light of Derrida’s
notion ‘difference’, Barthes’ understanding of ‘fictional encyclopaedia’ en Gennette’s
‘transtextuality’. However, seeing Matthew as a commentary of Mark (i.e. a text that replaces
another) does not exclude the consideration of various other encyclopaedic facets which are
transparent in Matthew’s surface structure. This article consists of an explanation of the
literary-theoretical concept fictional encyclopaedia and applies this intertextual notion on a
variety of aspects in existing Matthean studies. These aspects are, for example, Matthew’s
narrative structure, the Matthean Jesus profile as a ‘Mosaic Joshua’ figure and the Jesus’
disciples as potential collaborators of Jesus’ antagonists, namely the Pharisees. This article
demonstrates the correlation between Matthew’s beginning (Jesus’ genealogy) and its end
(Jesus’ commission of the disciples) against the background of transtextual echoes.
