From the Book - First edition.
PART I: How the gospels came to be written: the litrugical year of the synagogue as the organizing principle
Stating the problem, setting the stage
Setting Jesus into the context of history
The oral phase: entering the tunnel of silence
Discovering the clue that organized the synoptic gospels
Matthew's dependency on Mark
PART II: From after Passover to Shavuot: birth to early ministry
The magi and their gifts: an original sermon?
Herod and Pharaoh: Jesus and Moses
The baptism of Jesus: Moses relived
Into the wilderness: forty days, not forty years
PART III: Shavuot and the Sermon on the Mount: Sinai revisited
Jesus' return to the symbolic Sinai
The Lord's Prayer: taught by Jesus or composed by the church?
PART IV: Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur: miracles and teaching
Jesus' journey from Shavuot to Rosh Hashanah
Matthew's introduction of Jesus as a miracle worker
Matthew's take on the work of the kingdom
PART V: Yom Kippur: the challenge of atonement theology
Introducing Yom Kippur: the Day of Atonement
Demystifying the unforgivable sin: Matthew's story at Yom Kippur
The curse of atonement theology
PART VI: From Sukkoth onward: the new harvest
The symbols of Sukkoth and the food that satisfies hunger
The beheading of John the Baptist
Loaves and fishes, walking on water: Moses stories expanded
Two characters, two insights
PART VII: Dedication-Hanukkah and Transfiguration: the light of God reinterpreted
Dedication: the return of the light of God
The Transfiguration: a Dedication-Hanukkah story
PART VIII: Journey toward Passover: apocalypse and judgment
Introducing the journey section of Matthew's gospel
Apocalypse now: the final judgment
PART IX: Passover and passion: the climax
The climactic events of the passion narrative
Probing the passion narrative for interpretive clues
The passion narrative as liturgy
PART X: Matthew's Easter story: a new perspective
Easter dawns: myth or reality?