Mapping the Fault Lines: A Study of Seismic Activity in Matthew's Gospel

Carrier, Brian (Author); The Catholic University of America (Degree granting institution); Boxall, Ian (Thesis advisor); Heil, John Paul (Committee member); Nicklas, Tobias (Committee member)

Degree Awarded: Ph.D. Biblical Studies. The Catholic University of America

332

Biblical studies; Day of the Lord, Earthquake, Gospel, Matthew, Narrative criticism, Shaking; Biblical Studies

http://hdl.handle.net/1961/cuislandora:213992

http://hdl.handle.net/1961/cuislandora:213992

Day of the Lord; Earthquake; Gospel; Matthew; Narrative criticism; Shaking

2019-01-01T00:00:00Z

2020-01-01T00:00:00Z

Matthew’s Gospel is unique among its canonical counterparts in its predilection for seismic activity. Matthew alone records an earthquake when Jesus calms the sea (8:24), when Jesus dies (27:51/54), and when Jesus is raised (28:2). Matthew alone records the shaking of Jerusalem when Jesus enters the city (21:10) and the shaking of the tomb guards at the resurrection (28:4). These unique references, which form the heart of Matthew’s seismic motif, are supplemented by additional references to earthquakes (24:7; cf. Mark 13:8; Luke 21:11) and cosmological shaking (24:29; cf. Mark 13:25; Luke 21:26) in the eschatological discourse. While the first Gospel’s unparalleled fondness for seismic language has certainly not gone unnoticed in scholarship, it has yet to be treated in a comprehensive manner. Discussion has largely been confined to the earthquakes (8:24; 27:51/54; 28:2) and has proceeded in atomistic fashion, with the earthquake references isolated from each other and from the overall narrative. This is unfortunate, for beyond the shared lexical cord that binds the unique seismic references together, there is additional tethering in the form of an interrelated christological question-and-answer motif (8:27; 21:10; 27:54) as well as other thematic correspondences. This study attempts to provide a comprehensive analysis of the role that seismic language plays within the Matthean narrative. After reconstructing what connotations seismic language likely carried in Matthew’s cultural context (chapter two), it utilizes an historically informed author-oriented narrative criticism that is complemented with redaction criticism to analyze the relationships that Matthew’s seismic references display with regards to each other and to the overall narrative (chapters three through six). The overarching thesis of the study is that Matthew’s seismic references collectively indicate that Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection together represent the partial fulfillment of the OT eschatological Day of the Lord.

Dissertation

Carrier_cua_0043A_11110.pdf

The Catholic University of America

2020