Description: Is Jesus relevant to the sufferings of the helpless, the voiceless, those dying of hunger, those traumatized by violence, people with learning difficulties? In Matthew, we see Jesus to be a man on the frontline, battling against the forces that stop the non-poor from living generously, and the poorest of the poor living abundantly the way God intended. This is Jesus as one who in his very being is an expression of God's wrath against human beings who live their lives as if creation is a battle zone where only the selfish and powerful flourish. Matthew's Jesus is outraged at the lethargy and apathy that permits non-poor people to live according to practices that lead so many to be excluded from the fruits of God's creation. But the Jesus found in this gospel is also one who teaches that God has created a world that is good to see; it is abundant as long as people live according to the dynamic order God has inwardly established in creation, one rooted in generosity, hospitality, love, self-sacrifice, righteousness, justice, Torah, and mercy.
Brief description: Willard Swartley is dean and professor of New Testament at the Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Elkhart, Indiana. He has been a Bible teacher in congregational settings and church-wide conferences, in both North America and overseas. His special interests are in the Gospels, the peace teaching of the Bible, and biblical interpretation. He is a graduate of Eastern Mennonite College (BA), Goshen Biblical Seminary (BD), and Princeton Theological Seminary (1973 PhD).
Swartley is the New Testament editor for the Believers Church Bible Commentery Series and New Testament editor for a book series on Studies in Peace and Scripture. Swartley earlier taught at Eastern Mennonite University and served as interim dean there also. He directed the AMBS Institute of Mennonite Studies from 1979-88. He also taught at Goshen College, Eastern Mennonite College and Seminary, and at Conrad Grebel College. Among Swartley's publications are Mark: The Way for All Nations (Herald Press, 1979, rev. 1981); Slavery, Sabbath, War and Women: Case Issues in Biblical Interpretation (Herald Press, 1983); editor of Essays on Biblical Interpretation: Anabaptist Mennonite Perspectives (IMS, 1984); Israel's Scripture Traditions and the Synoptic Gospels: Story Shaping Story (Hendrickson, 1994); and co-editor, with Donald Kraybill, of Building Communities of Compassion (Herald Press, 1988).Review Quotes: "The Gospel of Matthew more than any other presents readers with the revolutionary challenge of the story of Jesus of Nazareth . . . and this exposition demonstrates the full extent of its radical summons. Bredin writes that the book is not written to scholars, but those of us who are scholars need to heed these words of Jesus: 'I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants.'"
--Christopher Rowland, Professor, Exegesis of Holy Scripture Emeritus, University of Oxford
"Here is no volume for the fainthearted. Bredin, a British Quaker, sketches a no-holds-barred portrait of 'Matthew's Subversive Messiah.'"
--Dorothy Jean Weaver, Professor, Eastern Mennonite Seminary
"Bredin's book inspires, challenges, discomforts, and enlightens. Read it and 'be transformed by the renewal of your minds.' You will never see things in quite the same way again."
--Stuart Masters, Senior Programme Leader, Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre
"This book combines scholarship with spirituality, food for thought with prayer. Its emphasis on God's preference for the poor and marginalized . . . can make uncomfortable reading. So much the better!"
--Janet Scott, Former Director, Homerton College, Cambridge
"Bredin sees an unremitting focus in Matthew on the good news to the poorest of the poor that challenges several of the consensus readings of the gospel. It reminds twenty-first century readers that the care of the marginalized in society is . . . of the essence of what it means to embody the Kingdom of God."
--Kent Brower, Nazarene Theological College, Manchester