New Study: Gospel of Matthew

I would like to spend a few words introducing our new group study by Rabbi Bruce Booker from Priest River, ID. Rabbi Booker is a member of the council of the UMJA. The study is entitled The Gospel of Mattityahu (Matthew) from a Jewish Perspective and will cover, in eight sections, the major themes of the book of Matthew with many clarifications and expansions of the traditional understanding of the book by viewing it through the lens of first century Judaisms. The series will undoubtedly take longer than 8 weeks to complete, but we will proceed at the pace of a lecture per week with slides, audio, and handouts. In addition to the materials that are provided as part of the course, the following two textbooks are listed as part of the curriculum, so I am giving the reference for each book here with a link to purchase on Amazon.

• Jewish New Testament Commentary, David H. Stern, Ph. D., Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc., 1996.
• The Gospel of Matthew, A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary, Craig S. Keener, William B. Eerdman's Publishing Co., 2009.

Don and Judi have offered to print extra handouts and copies of the presentation slides to enhance our learning experience. The first session last week was a nice introduction to the book and a good functional test of our technical capabilities.

For this week, we will be covering Section 1, the genealogy of Yeshua. The textbook readings are pages 1-15 of Stern and pages 73-81 of Keener.