John Kampen, Matthew within Sectarian Judaism (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2019).Excerpt:
... Rather than think of Matthew as a Christian text that reflects certain Jewish qualities, Kampen frames Matthew as a Jewish composition that emerges from within a variegated sectarian environment, and that proposes its understanding of Jewish halakhah as mediated through the messianic figure of Jesus. Using this framework, Matthew’s textual and ideological context must include the arguments and declarations of Jewish groups documented in texts such as those found among the Dead Sea Scrolls.Any of my readers interested in this book — you will also be interested in a St. Andrews PhD dissertation that I supervised some years ago. You can access it for free at the link in pdf format.
Kathleen Helen Burt, Ritual in the Damascus Document and the Gospel of Matthew (University of St. Andrews PhD thesis, 2014).
Abstract
This thesis examines the ritual content of the Damascus Document and the Gospel of
Matthew, demonstrating how community identity is constructed and developed through
the interpretation of the Law represented in each. The content is arranged according to
the ritual typology of Catherine Bell, which organises ritual into six categories:
calendrical ritual, rites of exchange and communion, political ritual, rites of passage, rites of affliction and rites of feasting and fasting. Analysis by type enables comparison and comment on the features and effects of ritual. I identify the Scriptural precedent for the discussions of ritual and any similar texts from the same period. These two ritually dense texts provide a great deal of material representing different perspectives on ritual
function and obligations within a Jewish community setting. The Damascus Document is a non-sectarian legal text from the Second Temple period. The Gospel of Matthew presents the narrative of Jesus with considerable comment on ritual matters, reflecting an audience steeped in Jewish ritual praxis while looking towards an eschatological inclusion of Gentiles who adhere to Jewish obligations. Each offers an insight into a community dissenting from aspects of mainstream Judaism without withdrawing completely. Each community maintains traditional ritual obligations to some extent, but claims additional information clarifying the correct interpretations of the Law. This thesis analyses how they negotiate the practical, and often theological, issues that accompany their distinct practices, creating a community identity through ritual.
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