Interpretation http://int.sagepub.

com/

Book Review: God with Us: A Pastoral Theology of Matthew's Gospel

John P. Meier Interpretation 1997 51: 91 DOI: 10.1177/002096439605100121 The online version of this article can be found at: http://int.sagepub.com/content/51/1/91.1.citation

Published by:
http://www.sagepublications.com

On behalf of:

Union Presbyterian Seminary

Additional services and information for Interpretation can be found at: Email Alerts: http://int.sagepub.com/cgi/alerts Subscriptions: http://int.sagepub.com/subscriptions Reprints: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsReprints.nav Permissions: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav

>> Version of Record - Jan 1, 1997 What is This?

Downloaded from int.sagepub.com by guest on January 28, 2013

Shorter reviews

sists (p 183), "Christian faith must talk about Jesus," and those who engage the questions addressed in this book are likely to do so in a more intelligent and articulate fashion Frances Taylor G e n c h Lutheran Theological Seminary Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

God with Us: A Pastoral Theology of Matthew's Gospel, by Mark Allan Powell. Fortress Press, Minneapolis, 1995. 156 pp. $12 00 (paper). ISBN 0-8006-2881-0
As APPLIED BOOKS on the Bible, "pasto-

promise rewards for virtue, he interprets the first beatitude to mean "blessed are the despondent, for heaven rules them " Here as elsewhere I found myself arguing with his positionswhich is a good sign that this engaging book achieves its purpose of provoking pastoral reflection If I have one regret, it is that at times Powell leaves us on the doorstep of the hermeneutical transition from Matthew's pastoral vision to the application of that vision to the pastoral problems of our own day I wish that he had crossed the threshold more often to give us concrete, practical examples of how the Gospel applies to late twentieth-century American Christians Still, Powell has given us a fine resource to undertake that step ourselves J o h n Meier The Catholic University of America Washington, D C

ral" is all too often a code word for "shoddy and anti-intellectual " In Powell's tightly packed volume, however, the word "pastoral" is reclaimed for intellectually rigorous yet eminently helpful reflections on Matthew No doubt those who equate "pastoral" with psychobabble or the line of least resistance will be put off by this careful study of key words and concepts in Matthew, but by adhering faithfully to Matthew's text and intent, Powell grounds his pastoral reflections in the Gospel and not in his own agenda Trying to avoid the usual categories of systematic theology, Powell divides the material of the Gospel according to the topics of mission, worship, teaching, stewardship, and social justice Some of the rubrics (e g , mission and worship) fit the Matthean material better than others (e g , stewardship, which seems to deal with the radical ethic of discipleship) Powell's treatment is not just a tired rerun of the obvious H e sometimes takes fresh, even startling views, notably in his treatment of the beatitudes (under social justice) For instance, stressing that the first four beatitudes do not

A Master of Surprise: Mark Interpreted, by Donald H. Juel. Fortress Press, Minneapolis, 1994. 152 pp. $12.00 (paper). ISBN 0-8006-2594-3
JUEL'S TITLE suggests his theme Mark's seemingly incomprehensible story is a surprising and dramatic assertion that God has torn asunder the boundary separating God and h u m a n k i n d Juel first argues for the appropriateness of interpreting Mark as a narrative whole, in preference to traditional historical approaches The surprise here is that the Gospel can be "a message capable of awakening tired and impoverished imaginations" (pp 29-30) T h e n Juel describes features of the stories of Jesus' baptism, the parable of the sower and its interpretation (4 1-20), the healing of the Gerasene demoniac (5 1-20), and Interpretation 91

Downloaded from int.sagepub.com by guest on January 28, 2013