Ruth Christa Mathieson offers a strong, well-argued, and creative response to the exegetical and ecclesiological challenges reflected by the text of Matthew 22:1–14 in its canonical form. The strengths of this book are her unflagging commitment to read Matthew against Matthew and the detailed and outstanding intertextual work that she lays out patiently, theme by theme. In this work, Mathieson proves herself an outstanding researcher, an excellent biblical exegete, a gifted communicator, and a passionate churchwoman focused on issues of justice for “vulnerable ones” within or beyond the church.
Dorothy Jean Weaver, Professor Emerita, Eastern Mennonite Seminary
In this fresh interpretation, Ruth Christa Mathieson reads the wedding feast parable not as depicting a general judgment but as dramatizing the removal of persons who victimize vulnerable “little ones” from the assemblies (ekklesiai) envisioned by Matthew. Its application of sociorhetorical interpretation to a single biblical passage demands sophistication in a wide range of theoretical and methodological discourses, from literary and rhetorical criticism to the social sciences to communication theory. Mathieson's attention to rhetography, or visual rhetoric, is especially effective. In this end, this interpretation is soulful and relevant. The question of child sexual abuse confronts us with urgency. A priest herself, the author models how critical interpretation and contemporary cultural engagement can work together.
Greg Carey, Professor of New Testament, Lancaster Theological Seminary