Abstract:
This article focuses on Andries van Aarde's interpretation of the Gospel
of Matthew. His book, 'God-with-us: The dominant perspective in Matthew's
story, and other essays', consists of a number of articles covering
different aspects of this Gospel. It is argued that Van Aarde changed his
approach to Matthew in the course of time. At the beginning of his
career, he focused on structural analysis and made an important contribution to the 'Gattung' problem. Then his attention shifted to narratology
and social-scientific criticism. Van Aarde's consistent narratological
interpretation of Matthew enabled him to identify Matthew's ideology
and to determine the way in which it took shape on the surface
structure. This narratological investigation also shed new light among
others, on the parables, the characters and the problem of direct and indirect
discourse. To conclude the article, some critical statements with
regard to the historical understanding of the Gospel of Matthew are formulated.
