Experiencing a biblical self-consuming artifact: Jesus’ genealogy (Matt 1:2-17)

Matt 1:17 indicates that Jesus’ genealogy is formed by three series of fourteen generations; however, this total number of generations does not match the preceding list in Matt 1:2-16. Interpreters have proposed multiple ways to understand this inconsistency which have yet to be collected and evalua...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Doane, Sébastien 1978- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: De Gruyter 2020
In: Journal of the bible and its reception
Year: 2020, Volume: 7, Issue: 2, Pages: 115-146
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Matthew / Reception / Fish, Stanley Eugene 1938-
IxTheo Classification:CD Christianity and Culture
HC New Testament
Further subjects:B Matt 1:2-17
B Genealogy
B Davidic messiah
B Reader-response
B Stanley Fish
B Gospel of Matthew
B Reception History
B self-consuming artifact
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:Matt 1:17 indicates that Jesus’ genealogy is formed by three series of fourteen generations; however, this total number of generations does not match the preceding list in Matt 1:2-16. Interpreters have proposed multiple ways to understand this inconsistency which have yet to be collected and evaluated. A double literature review displays the limitations of this seemingly insoluble biblical conundrum. This article presents the tension between verse 17 and verses 2-17 of Matthew’s gospel as a puzzling reading experience that can best be described, in line with Stanley Fish, as a self-consuming artifact: an experience of incongruity in which the text and the reader are transformed through a process of negation. This approach also highlights other potential reversals in Matthew 1, such as Davidic traditions, that can yield a renewed outlook on this gospel.
ISSN:2329-4434
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of the bible and its reception
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1515/jbr-2019-0009