Matthew’s Gospel for Today

Dr Stephen Barton

University of Durham 

This lecture will argue for the relevance of Matthew’s Gospel for today. It will show that Matthew’s apocalyptic language and theology reflects the parting of the ways between church and synagogue in the period after Jesus’ death and resurrection. It will suggest that, far from being a ‘problem’, Matthean apocalyptic renders the Gospel strangely relevant for living in a time of crisis and end-of-the-world anxiety. Among significant themes discussed will be the frank recognition of the reality of evil; the relevance of the moral life and practices of ascetic discipline; the theme of judgement; Jesus as divine revealer of a hidden wisdom; identity and community in the kingdom of heaven; the ‘two ways’ doctrine and the imperative to choose.