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The Gospel According to Matthew (Greek: κατὰ Ματθαῖον εὐαγγέλιον, kata Matthaion euangelion, τὸ εὐαγγέλιον κατὰ Ματθαῖον, to euangelion kata Matthaion) (Gospel of Matthew or simply Matthew) is one of the four canonical gospels, one of the three synoptic gospels, and the first book of the New Testament. It tells of the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. The version in use today was written in Koine Greek.

"Matthew" probably originated in a Jewish-Christian community in Roman Syria towards the end of the 1st century.^[1] The anonymous author probably drew on a number of sources, including the Gospel of Mark, the sayings collection known as the Q source, and material unique to his own community, as well as his own experience.^[2] The narrative tells how Israel's Messiah, having been rejected by Israel (i.e., God's chosen people), withdrew into the circle of his disciples, passed judgment on those who had rejected him (so that "Israel" becomes the non-believing "Jews"), and finally sent the disciples to the nations.^[3]

Composition and setting[link]

Evangelist Mathäus und der Engel by Rembrandt

Authorship and sources[link]

The Gospel of Matthew does not name its author. The Christian bishop, Papias of Hierapolis, about 100–140 AD, in a passage with several ambiguous phrases, wrote: "Matthew collected the oracles (logia—sayings of or about Jesus) in the Hebrew language (Hebraïdi dialektōi—perhaps alternatively "Hebrew style") and each one interpreted (hērmēneusen—or "translated") them as best he could."^[4] On the surface this implies that Matthew was written in Hebrew and translated into Greek, but Matthew's Greek "reveals none of the telltale marks of a translation."^[5] Scholars have put forward several theories to explain Papias: perhaps Matthew wrote two gospels, one, now lost, in Hebrew, the other our Greek version; or perhaps the logia was a collection of sayings rather than the gospel; or by dialektōi Papias may have meant that Matthew wrote in the Jewish style rather than in the Hebrew language.^[4]

Papias does not identify his Matthew, but by the end of the 2nd century the tradition of Matthew the tax-collector had become widely accepted, and the line "The Gospel According to Matthew" began to be added to manuscripts.^[6] For many reasons most scholars today doubt this—for example, the gospel is based on Mark, and "it seems unlikely that an eyewitness of Jesus's ministry, such as Matthew, would need to rely on others for information about it"^[7]—and believe instead that it was written between about 80–90 AD by a highly educated Jew (an "Israelite", in the language of the gospel itself), intimately familiar with the technical aspects of Jewish law, standing on the boundary between traditional and non-traditional Jewish values.^[1] The disciple Matthew was probably honoured within the author's circle, as the name Matthew is more prominent in this gospel than any other,^[8] and it is possible that some of the "M" material may have originated with Matthew himself.^[9]

Most textual scholars consider that the author drew on three distinct sources, each representing a distinct community: material shared with Luke (called "Q", a hypothetical collection, or several collections, of sayings); the Gospel of Mark; and material unique to Matthew (called "M").^[10] He wrote for a Jewish audience: like "Q" and "M", he stresses the continuing relevance of the Jewish law; unlike Mark he never bothers to explain Jewish customs; and unlike Luke, who traces Jesus's ancestry back to Adam, father of the human race, he traces it only to Abraham, father of the Jews.^[11] The content of "M" suggests that this community was stricter than the others in its attitude to keeping the Jewish law, holding that they must exceed the scribes and the Pharisees in "righteousness" (adherence to Jewish law); and of the three only "M" refers to a "church" (ecclesia), an organised group with rules for keeping order.^[12]

The view of an Aramaic original New Testament is traditional in the Syrian Church.

Setting: the community of the Gospel of Matthew[link]

The beginning of Matthew in Minuscule 484

A. J. Saldarini summarises the common scholarly view on the origins of Matthew as follows:

"[T]he Gospel of Matthew addresses a deviant group within the Jewish community in greater Syria, a reformist Jewish sect seeking influence and power (relatively unsuccessfully) within the Jewish community as a whole."^[13]

The community which gave rise to Matthew originated in Palestine, but: "There the community’s mission to Israel failed, and eventually, probably in the period preceding the Jewish War of 66-70, they were forced to leave the land of Israel. They found a new home in Syria and began to missionize among the Gentiles."^[14] Antioch, a coastal city in northern Syria and the third largest in the Roman world, is often mentioned as this later home of the Matthean community, but it could have been any large city in the eastern Mediterranean with large Jewish and Christian populations, and recent research points towards a location near Galilee or Judea.^[15]

According to an influential hypothesis put forward by W.D. Davies, the gospel of Matthew was written as a direct response to developments within the Jewish community following the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 AD. The Pharisees of Judea emerged as the new leaders of the Jewish community after the war, and the loss of the Temple and its priests and the ritual of sacrifice faced them with the problem of finding a new Jewish identity. Their answer was to insist on strict observance of the Law (the Torah), isolation from the gentiles, and minimalisation of the expectation of the coming of the Messiah (the expectation which had provoked the war). The Jewish Christians of Antioch responded differently: obedience to law will be done though following Jesus; Jesus was the Messiah; and Jew and gentile were to be brought into the one community.^[16]

If Matthew's prime concern was to preserve the Jewish character of the church, he failed: Christianity became a Gentile religion, and Christianity and Judaism came to view each other as opposites. Matthew's own Christian community may have called themselves Nazoreans, a sect mentioned by Jerome and others: like Matthew, they maintained a "high Christology" (i.e., they stressed Jesus' divine nature over his human-ness), and did not demand that Gentile Christians observe all the Law.^[17]

Structure and content[link]

Beginning of the Gospel of Matthew in Minuscule 447

Structure[link]

Most commentators seem to agree that Matthew, alone among the gospels, alternates five blocks of narrative with five of discourse, marking each off with the phrase "When Jesus had finished..."^[18] (see Five Discourses of Matthew). Some scholars see in this five-part layout a deliberate plan to create a parallel to the first five books of the Old Testament; others see a three-part structure based around the idea of Jesus as Messiah; or a set of weekly readings spread out over the year; or no plan at all.^[19] Davies and Allison draw attention to the use of "triads" (the gospel groups things in threes),^[20] and R. T. France notes the geographic movement from Galilee to Jerusalem and back (the post-resurrection appearances in Galilee are the culmination of the whole story).^[21]

Prologue: genealogy, nativity and infancy[link]

The Gospel of Matthew begins with the words "The Book of Genealogy [in Greek, "Genesis"] of Jesus Christ", deliberately echoing the first words of the Old Testament in Greek.^[22] The genealogy tells of Jesus' descent from Abraham and King David and the miraculous events surrounding his virgin birth,^[23] and the infancy narrative tells of the massacre of the innocents, the flight into Egypt, and eventual journey to Nazareth.

First narrative and discourse[link]

The first narrative section begins. John baptizes Jesus, and the Holy Spirit descends upon him. Jesus prays and meditates in the wilderness for forty days, and is tempted by Satan. His early ministry by word and deed in Galilee meets with much success, and leads to the Sermon on the Mount, the first of the discourses. The sermon presents the ethics of the kingdom of God, and includes the Beatitudes ("Blessed are...")^[24] as its introduction. It concludes with a reminder that the response to the kingdom will have eternal consequences, and the crowd's amazed response leads into the next narrative block.^[25]

Second narrative and discourse[link]

From the authoritative words of Jesus the gospel turns to three sets of three miracles interwoven with two sets of two discipleship stories (the second narrative), followed by a discourse on mission and suffering.^[26] Jesus commissions the Twelve Disciples and sends them to preach to the Jews, perform miracles, and prophesy the imminent coming of the Kingdom,^[27] commanding them to travel lightly, without staff or sandals, and to be prepared for persecution. Scholars are divided over whether these rules originated with Jesus or with apostolic practice.^[24]

Third narrative and discourse[link]

Opposition to Jesus comes to a head with accusations that his deeds are done through the power of Satan; Jesus in turn accuses his opponents of blaspheming the Holy Spirit. The discourse is a set of parables emphasising the sovereignty of God, and concluding with a challenge to the disciples to understand the teachings as scribes of the kingdom of heaven.^[28] (Matthew avoids using the holy word God in the expression "Kingdom of God"; instead he prefers the term "Kingdom of Heaven", reflecting the Jewish tradition of not speaking the name of God).^[29]

Fourth narrative and discourse[link]

The fourth narrative section reveals that the increasing opposition to Jesus will result in his crucifixion in Jerusalem, and that his disciples must therefore prepare for his absence.^[30] The instructions for the post-crucifixion church emphasize responsibility and humility.^[31] (This section contains Matthew 16:13–19, in which Simon, newly renamed Peter, (πέτρος, petros, meaning "stone"), calls Jesus "the Christ, the son of the living God", and Jesus states that on this "bedrock" (πέτρα, petra) he will build his church—the passage forms the foundation for the papacy's claim of authority).

Fifth narrative and discourse[link]

Jesus travels to Jerusalem, and the opposition intensifies: he is tested by Pharisees immediately he begins to move towards the city, and when he arrives he is soon in conflict with the Temple and other religious leaders. The disciples ask about the future, and in his final discourse (the Olivet discourse) Jesus speaks of the coming end.^[32] There will be false Messiahs, earthquakes, and persecutions, the sun, moon, and stars will fail, but "this generation" will not pass away before all the prophecies are fulfilled.^[27] The disciples must steel themselves for ministry to all the nations. At the end of the discourse Matthew notes that Jesus has finished all his words, and attention turns to the crucifixion.^[32]

Conclusion: Passion, Resurrection and Great Commission[link]

The events of Jesus' last week occupy a third of the content of all four gospels.^[33] Jesus enters Jerusalem in triumph and drives the money changers from the temple, holds a last supper, prays to be spared the coming agony, and is betrayed. He is tried by the Jewish leaders (the Sanhedrin) and before Pontius Pilate, and Pilate washes his hands of his blood. Jesus is crucified as king of the Jews, mocked by all. On his death there is an earthquake, and saints rise from their tombs. The two Marys discover the empty tomb, guarded by an angel, and Jesus himself tells them to tell the disciples to meet him in Galilee.

After the resurrection the remaining disciples return to Galilee, "to the mountain that Jesus had appointed," where he comes to them and tells them that he has been given "all authority in heaven and on Earth." He gives the Great Commission: "Therefore go and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you;" Jesus will be with them "to the very end of the age."^[34]

Themes in Matthew[link]

Woodcut from Anton Koberger's Bible (Nuremberg, 1483): The angelically inspired Saint Matthew musters the Old Testament figures, led by Abraham and David

Matthew's gospel tells how Israel's Messiah is rejected by Israel, withdraws into the circle of his disciples, passes judgment on those who have rejected him so that "Israel" becomes the non-believing "Jews", and sends the disciples instead to the gentiles.^[3] The title Son of David identifies Jesus as the healing and miracle-working Messiah of Israel (it is used exclusively in relation to miracles, and the Jewish messiah is sent to Israel alone);^[35] as Son of Man he will return to judge the world (a fact his disciples recognise but of which his enemies are unaware);^[36] and as Son of God he has a unique relationship with God, God revealing himself through his son, and Jesus proving his sonship through his obedience and example.^[37] Prior to the Crucifixion the Jews are called Israelites, the honorific title of God's chosen people; after it, they are called "Ioudaioi", Jews, a sign that through their rejection of the Christ the "kingdom of Heaven" has been taken away from them and given instead to the church.^[38] The gospel has been interpreted as reflecting the struggles and conflicts between the evangelist's community and the other Jews, particularly with its sharp criticism of the scribes and Pharisees.^[39]

The roots of the gospel in the Matthew-community of the late 1st century give rise to another important title bestowed on Jesus by Matthew, Emmanuel, "God is With Us"—meaning that through Jesus, God is with the ecclesia (literally "assembly", but translated as "church"). Theologically, Matthew's prime concern was that the Jewish tradition should not be lost in a church increasingly becoming gentile.^[40] This concern lies behind the frequent citations of Jewish scripture, the evocation of Jesus and the new Moses along with other events from Jewish history, and the concern to present Jesus as fulfilling, not destroying, the Law.^[41]

The Jewish theme in the Gospel of Matthew is apparent in other ways as well. First, nearly every important person in the Gospel of Matthew is Jewish. For example, Jesus, the twelve apostles, and the crowds are Jewish. They never deny their Jewish faith in the gospel. Next, Israel is a common theme in the Gospel of Matthew. For instance, in Matthew 15:31, after a story of the healings of Jesus, the text reads that the crowds ‘praised the God of Israel.’^[42]

Matthew may have been influenced by Jewish Christianity, a movement in the first few centuries CE which saw Jesus as the Messiah, but continued to practice Jewish customs and traditions.^[43] The Gospel of the Nazarenes, a Jewish Christian text, possesses similar themes to the Gospel of Matthew. These themes include many Jewish related elements.^[42]

Comparison with other writings[link]

Matthew, like Luke, incorporates nearly the whole of Mark, keeping the outline intact and adding genealogy-birth-infancy stories to the beginning and post-resurrection appearances to the end.^[44] Many scholars have argued that Matthew is simply an expanded version of Mark, but it is also a creative reinterpretation of the source,^[45] stressing Jesus' teachings as much as his acts,^[46] and making subtle changes in order to stress Jesus' divine nature – Mark's "young man" who appears at Jesus' tomb, for example, becomes a radiant angel in Matthew.^[47] The miracle stories in Mark do not demonstrate the divinity of Jesus, as this is an idea not found in that gospel, but rather confirm his status as an emissary of God (which was Mark's understanding of the Messiah).^[48]

There is a broad disagreement over chronology between Matthew, Mark and Luke on one hand and John on the other: all four agree that Jesus' public ministry began with an encounter with John the Baptist, but Matthew, Mark and Luke follow this with an account of teaching and healing in Galilee, then a trip to Jerusalem where there is an incident in the Temple, climaxing with the crucifixion on the day of the Passover holiday. John, by contrast, puts the Temple incident very early in Jesus' ministry, has several trips to Jerusalem, and puts the crucifixion immediately before the Passover holiday, on the day when the lambs for the Passover meal were being sacrificed in Temple.^[49]ref> Matthew agrees with Paul that gentiles did not have to be circumcised in order to enter the church, but unlike Paul (and like Luke) he believed that the Law was still in force, which meant that Jews within the church had to keep it.^[50]

In art[link]

The Chi Rho monogram from the Book of Kells is the most lavish such monogram

In Insular Gospel Books (copies of the Gospels produced in Ireland and Britain under Celtic Christianity), the first verse of Matthew's genealogy of Christ was often treated in a decorative manner, as it began not only a new book of the Bible, but was the first verse in the Gospels.

See also[link]

• Authorship of the Bible
• Godspell
• Gospel
• Gospel harmony
• Gospel of the Ebionites
• Gospel of the Hebrews
• Gospel of the Nazoraeans
• Great Commission
• Il vangelo secondo Matteo, a film by Pier Paolo Pasolini
• Immanuel
• Jewish-Christian Gospels
• List of Gospels
• List of omitted Bible verses
• Matthew 16:2b–3
• Olivet discourse
• Papyrus 64
• Sermon on the Mount
• Joseph Smith—Matthew
• St Matthew Passion – an oratorio by J. S. Bach
• Synoptic gospels
• Talmud Jmmanuel
• Textual variants in the Gospel of Matthew
• Woes of the Pharisees

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Allison, D.C. (2004). Matthew: A Shorter Commentary. T&T Clark. ISBN 978-0567082497. http://books.google.com.au/books?id=m_OShrBh0I0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=Allison+Matthew:+a+shorter+commentary#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
• Davies, W.D.; Allison, D.C. (1988). Matthew 1-7. T&T Clark. ISBN 978-0567083555. http://books.google.com.au/books?id=VQzZc7KYUKgC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Davies+and+Allison+%E2%80%94+Matthew+1-7#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
• Davies, W.D.; Allison, D.C. (1991). Matthew 8-18. T&T Clark. ISBN 978-0567083654. http://books.google.com.au/books?id=ZdpE84GmWiIC&pg=PA211&lpg=PA211&dq=Davies+and+Allison+%E2%80%94+Matthew+8-18#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
• Davies, W.D.; Allison, D.C. (1997). Matthew 19-28. T&T Clark. ISBN 978-0567083753. http://books.google.com.au/books?id=QEKQ_iBhX7UC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Davies+and+Allison+%E2%80%94+Matthew+19-28#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
• France, R.T (2007). The Gospel of Matthew. Eerdmans. ISBN 978-0802825018. http://books.google.com.au/books?id=0ruP6J_XPCEC&pg=PA11&lpg=PA11&dq=R.+T.+France+The+Gospel+of+Matthew#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
• Keener, Craig S. (1999). A commentary on the Gospel of Matthew. Eerdmans. ISBN 978-0802838216. http://books.google.com.au/books?id=sWzhEdBZOp4C&printsec=frontcover&dq=Craig+S.+Keener+%E2%80%94+A+Commentary+on+the+Gospel+of+Matthew#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
• Luz, Ulrich (1992). Matthew 1-7: a commentary. Fortress Press. ISBN 978-0800696009. 
• Luz, Ulrich (2001). Matthew 8-20: a commentary. Fortress Press. ISBN 978-0800660345. 
• Luz, Ulrich (2005). Matthew 21-28: a commentary. Fortress Press. ISBN 978-0800637705. 
• Morris, Leon (1992). The Gospel according to Matthew. Eerdmans. ISBN 978-0851113388. http://books.google.com.au/books?id=-pwaSKcHyEEC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Leon+Morris+%E2%80%94+The+Gospel+According+to+Matthew#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
• Turner, David L. (2008). Matthew. Baker. ISBN 978-0801026843. http://books.google.com/books?id=8z9LSdKLUl4C&printsec=frontcover&dq=David+Turner#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
• Aune, David E. (ed.) (2001). The Gospel of Matthew in current study. Eerdmans. ISBN 9780802846730. http://books.google.com.au/books?id=E8lZ7BXzt0sC&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+Gospel+of+Matthew+in+Current+Study:+Studies+in+Honor+of+William+G.+Thompson,+S.J.#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
• Aune, David E. (1987). The New Testament in its literary environment. Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 978-0664250188. http://books.google.com.au/books?id=XdSto1nkx9AC&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+New+Testament+in+its+literary+environment#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
• Bockmuehl, Markus; Hagner, Donald A. (2005). The Written Gospel. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0521832854. http://books.google.com.au/books?id=pAZxCMRztQ4C&printsec=frontcover&dq=Bockmuehl,+Markus+and+Donald+A.+Hagner,+The+Written+Gospel#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
• Bromiley, Geoffrey W. (1959). The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Eerdmans. ISBN 978-0802837851. http://books.google.com.au/books?id=Zkla5Gl_66oC&pg=PA410&lpg=PA410&dq=International+Standard+Bible+Encyclopedia+1959+p281+ed.+Geoffrey+W.+Bromiley#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
• Browning, W.R.F (2004). Oxford Dictionary of the Bible. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0198608905. http://books.google.com.au/books?id=lKsdAtPUoRgC&printsec=frontcover&dq=W.+R.+F.+Browning,+Gospel+of+Matthew,+A+dictionary+of+the+Bible#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
• Burkett, Delbert (2002). An introduction to the New Testament and the origins of Christianity. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521007207. http://books.google.com.au/books?id=EcsQknxV-xQC&printsec=frontcover&dq=An+introduction+to+the+New+Testament+and+the+origins+of+Christianity+Delbert+Royce+Burkett#v=onepage&q=Gospel%20of%20Matthew&f=false. 
• Clarke, Howard W. (2003). The Gospel of Matthew and Its Readers. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0253342355. http://books.google.com.au/books?id=5BB70m7EVPkC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Howard+W.+Clarke+%282003%29#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
• Duling, Dennis C. "The Gospel of Matthew". http://books.google.com.au/books?id=ygcgn8h-jo4C&printsec=frontcover&dq=Blackwell+companion+to+the+New+Testament#v=onepage&q&f=false. , in Aune, David E. (ed.) (2010). The Blackwell companion to the New Testament. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1405108256. 
• Dunn, James D.G. (2003). Jesus Remembered. Eerdmans. ISBN 978-0802839312. http://books.google.com.au/books?id=G4qpnvoautgC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Jesus+remembered++By+James+D.+G.+Dunn#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
• Kupp, David D. (1996). Matthew's Emmanuel: Divine Presence and God's People in the First Gospel. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521570077. http://books.google.com.au/books?id=Kwlpnk1kKf0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=Kupp,+David+D,+Matthew%27s+Emmanuel:#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
• Levine, Amy-Jill. "Visions of kingdoms: From Pompey to the first Jewish revolt". , in Coogan, Michael D., ed. (2001). The Oxford History of the Biblical World. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195139372. 
• Luz, Ulrich (2005). Studies in Matthew. Eerdmans. ISBN 978-0802839640. http://books.google.com.au/books?id=voRVZFEpNsAC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Luz+Studies+in+Matthew#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
• Luz, Ulrich ((English) 1995). The Theology of the Gospel of Matthew. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521435765. http://books.google.com.au/books?id=cKl5M_MQMoYC&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+theology+of+the+Gospel+of+Matthew#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
• Morris, Leon (1986). New Testament Theology. Zondervan. ISBN 978-0310455714. http://books.google.com.au/books?id=6D3o6fZd67EC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Morris+New+Testament+Theology#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
• Perkins, Pheme. "The Synoptic Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles: Telling the Christian Story". http://books.google.com.au/books?id=PSHCRgS_SAUC&pg=PR7&dq=The+Cambridge+Companion+to+the+Bible+1997&cad=3#v=onepage&q=Pheme%20Perkins&f=false. , in Kee, Howard Clark, ed. (1997). The Cambridge companion to the bible: part 3. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521485937. 
• Saldarini, Anthony (2003). "Matthew". http://books.google.com.au/books?id=2Vo-11umIZQC&pg=PA1000&lpg=PA1000&dq=Matthew+Saldarini+name+composition+authorship+dates#v=onepage&q&f=false. , in Dunn, James D.G.; Rogerson, John William (2003). Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible. Eerdmans. ISBN 978-0802837110. 
• Saldarini, Anthony (1994). Matthew's Christian-Jewish Community. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0226734217. http://books.google.com.au/books?id=btSZh4_vzqoC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Matthew%27s+Christian-Jewish+Community#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
• Senior, Donald. "Directions in Matthean Studies". http://books.google.com.au/books?id=E8lZ7BXzt0sC&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+Gospel+of+Matthew+in+Current+Study:+Studies+in+Honor+of+William+G.+Thompson,+S.J.#v=onepage&q&f=false. , in Aune, David E. (ed.) (2001). The Gospel of Matthew in current study. Eerdmans. ISBN 978-0802846730. 
• Senior, Donald (1996). What are they saying about Matthew?. PaulistPress. ISBN 978-0809136247. http://books.google.com.au/books?id=xuyaPmvwnLEC&printsec=frontcover&dq=What+are+they+saying+about+Matthew?#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
• Stanton, Graham (1993). A gospel for a new people: studies in Matthew. Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 978-0664254995. http://books.google.com/books?id=GytxXOIsF-0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=Stanton%2BA+Gospel+for+a+New+People. 
• Strecker, Georg (1996, 2000). Theology of the New Testament. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 978-0664223366. http://books.google.com.au/books?id=_6NxpAvdrOgC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Strecker+Theology+New+Testament#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
• Van de Sandt, H.W.M.. "Introduction". http://books.google.com.au/books?id=cTE0FQtrphwC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Matthew+and+the+Didache#v=onepage&q&f=false. , in Van de Sandt, H.W.M, ed. (2005). Matthew and the Didache. Royal Van Gorcum&Fortress Press. ISBN 978-9023240778. 
• Weren, Wim. "The History and Social Setting of the Matthean Community". http://books.google.com.au/books?id=cTE0FQtrphwC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Matthew+and+the+Didache#v=onepage&q&f=false. , in Van de Sandt, H.W.M, ed. (2005). Matthew and the Didache. Royal Van Gorcum&Fortress Press. ISBN 978-9023240778. 

External links[link]

Wikiversity has learning materials about Biblical Studies (NT) #The Gospels: The Life and Ministry of Jesus

Wikisource has original text related to this article: Gospel of Matthew (KJV)

• A list of online translations of the Gospel of Matthew: Matthew 1–28
• Biblegateway.com (opens at Matt.1:1, NIV)
• A textual commentary on the Gospel of Matthew Detailed text-critical discussion of the 300 most important variants of the Greek text (PDF, 438 pages).
• Early Christian Writings Gospel of Matthew: introductions and e-texts.
• "Gospel of St. Matthew" article in 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia
• Matthew - King James Version

vep:Evangelii Matvejan mödhe

Matthew may refer to:

• Matthew (name), the given name
• Matthew (surname)
• Matthew (ship), the ship sailed by John Cabot in 1497 from Bristol to North America
• Matthew (album), an album by rapper Kool Keith

In Christianity:

• Saint Matthew the Evangelist, one of the apostles of Jesus
• Gospel of Matthew, a book of the Bible

See also[link]

• Matt (given name), the diminutive form of Matthew
• Matthews (surname)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2010)

Alexander Scourby (November 13, 1913 – February 22, 1985) was an American film, television, and voice actor known for his deep and resonant voice. He is particularly well-remembered in the English-speaking world for his landmark recordings of the entire King James Version of the Bible, which have been released in numerous editions.^[1][2]

Early life[link]

Alexander Scourby was born in Brooklyn, New York on November 13, 1913, to Constantine Nicholas, a successful restaurateur, wholesale baker and sometime investor in independent motion-pictures, and Betsy Scourby (née Patsakos), a homemaker, both of whom were immigrants from Greece.

Raised in Brooklyn, Scourby was a member of a Boy Scout troop and later became a cadet with the 101st National Guard Cavalry Regiment. He attended public and private schools in Brooklyn, spending summer vacations in New Jersey, upstate New York, and at a cousin's home in Massachusetts. Dismissed from Polytechnic Prep School, he finished his secondary education at Brooklyn Manual Training High School, which he described as "an ordinary high school that had an awful lot of shop."

Scourby was a co-editor of the magazine and yearbook, and he envisioned a career in writing, though he later came to realize that writing was, for him, "absolutely the most painful thing in the world" and also that he "could never meet a deadline," whereas he found the reading aloud of plays easy and enjoyable. Encouraged by some of his teachers, he began to turn his attention to acting. He made his stage debut with the high school's dramatic society, as the juvenile in Augustin MacHugh's The Meanest Man in the World.

Early career[link]

Upon graduation from high school in 1931, Scourby, not yet having abandoned the prospect of a writing career, entered West Virginia University at Morgantown to study journalism. During his first semester he joined the campus drama group and played a minor role in A. A. Milne's comedy Mr. Pim Passes By. In February 1932, as he was beginning his second semester, his father died, and he left the university to help run the family's pie bakery in Brooklyn.

A month after Scourby returned to Brooklyn, he was accepted as an apprentice at Eva Le Gallienne's Civic Repertory Theatre on 14th Street in downtown Manhattan. At the Civic Repertory he was taught dancing, speech, and make-up, and was given his first professional role, a walk-on in Liliom. In 1933, Scourby and other Civic Repertory apprentices joined together to form the Apprentice Theatre, which presented plays at the New School for Social Research in New York City during the 1933-34 season.

Scourby's first role on Broadway was that of the player king in Leslie Howard's production of Hamlet, which opened at the Imperial Theatre on November 10, 1936 and went on tour after thirty-nine performances. Returning to New York—and unemployment—in the spring of 1937, Scourby was introduced to the American Foundation for the Blind's Talking Book program by Wesley Addy, a member of the Hamlet cast and Scourby's roommate on the tour, who was regularly recording plays for the foundation. After a successful audition in the spring of 1937, Scourby was cast in a small part in a recording of Antony and Cleopatra. During the following summer he was, again, the player king in a production of Hamlet in Dennis, Massachusetts that featured Eva Le Gallienne. When he returned to audition for the American Foundation for the Blind later in the year he was told that the company of actors was "filled" but that he might record a novel if he wished. "That was the beginning of it," he recalled years later, adding, "The recordings for the blind are perhaps my greatest achievement. Most of the things I look back at in the theater were either insignificant parts in great plays or good parts in terrible plays. So it really doesn't amount to anything. Whereas I have recorded some great books. The greatest one being the Bible."

Scourby began working in radio in 1939 and by the early 1940s he was playing running parts in five of the serial melodramas, popularly known as soap operas, including Against the Storm, in which he replaced Arnold Moss for two years. He narrated Andre Kostelanetz' musical show for a year, using the pseudonym Alexander Scott. At the request of sponsors, his voice was heard on many dramatic shows, including NBC's Sunday program The Eternal Light (with which he was to remain, despite heavy commitments elsewhere, through the 1950s). On Superman, his was the voice of the title character's father in the one program devoted to the character's origins. During World War II, Scourby's broadcasts were beamed abroad in Greek and English for the Office of War Information. At the time, a writer in Variety (May 16, 1962) described the quality of Scourby's voice as "the kind of resonance closely associated by listeners with big time radio."

Theater and Film Work[link]

Scourby kept his hand in the theater by doing summer stock and a wide variety of other seasonal productions. In Maurice Evans' production of Hamlet, which opened at the St. James Theatre in New York on October 12, 1938 and ran for ninety-six performances, Scourby played Rosencrantz. Later in the same season he appeared with Evans in Henry IV, Part 1 as the Earl of Westmoreland. The following year, he toured with Evans in Richard II as one of the hirelings of the king. He returned to Broadway years later in late 1946, replacing Ruth Chatterton as the narrator in Ben Hecht's A Flag Is Born, a one-act, dramatic pageant produced by the American League for a Free Palestine, at the Alvin Theatre. On December 22, 1947, he opened with John Gielgud in Rodney Ackland's dramatization of Crime and Punishment at the National Theatre in New York, playing Razournikhim, friend to Gielgud's Raskolnikoff.

Scourby was one of the founders of New Stages, a drama company that went into operation in a small theater on Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village, New York City in the 1947-48 season. During its two-year existence, the company presented Garcia Lorca's Blood Wedding, Edward Caulfield's Bruno and Sidney, two plays by Jean-Paul Sartre, and The Victors.

In Sidney Kingsley's Detective Story, which opened at the Hudson Theatre on March 23, 1949 and ran for a year and eight months, Scourby played Tami Giacoppetti, the tough racketeer. Almost immediately after Detective Story closed, Scourby began rehearsing another Kingsley role on Broadway, that of Ivanoff, the old Bolshevik friend of Rubashov in Darkness at Noon, a dramatization of Arthur Koestler's novel. The play opened at the Alvin Theatre on January 13, 1951, with Claude Rains playing Rubashov, and ran for 163 performances. When the Theatre Guild revived George Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan later in the same year, with Uta Hagen in the title role, Scourby was cast as Peter Cauchon, the Bishop of Beauvais. The play was presented at the Cort Theatre from October 4, 1951 to February 2, 1952.

Scourby first appeared on screen in two films with Glenn Ford, Affair in Trinidad (Columbia, 1952) and The Big Heat (Columbia, 1953). He subsequently played a Greek officer in Korea in The Glory Brigade (Twentieth Century-Fox, 1953) and St. Luke in The Silver Chalice (Warner Brothers, 1954), and he again appeared with Glenn Ford in Ransom! (MGM, 1956), later to be remade with Mel Gibson and Gary Sinise. "None of the pictures I've done have been really important or very good," Scourby later said, "with the exception - and it is debatable - of Giant (Warner Brothers, 1956)." In the film version of Edna Ferber's novel Scourby played Polo, the old Mexican ranch foreman. He later had a role in The Big Fisherman (Buena Vista, 1959). During these extremely busy years, Scourby, who had been living with his wife and child in an apartment near Columbia University in New York City, bought a home in Beverly Hills, California. Calls for Scourby to work in New York, however, soon made the Beverly Hills residence as much a commutation point as a home.

Back on the New York stage, Scourby played Rakitin in Emlyn Williams' adaptation of Turgenev's A Month in the Country and Peter Cauchon in Siobhan McKenna's interpretation of Saint Joan, both presented at the Off-Broadway Phoenix Theatre^{[disambiguation needed ]} in 1956. Again at the Phoenix, he played King Claudius in Hamlet in the spring of 1961, bringing to the role, as Howard Taubman noted in the New York Times (March 17, 1961), the appropriate "fret of fear and decay."

In 1963, Scourby was given the featured role of Gorotchenko, the Communist commissar who stalks a White Russian noble couple fleeing the Revolution, in Tovarich, a Broadway musical by Lee Pockriss and Anne Croswell, based on the comedy by Robert E. Sherwood and Jacques Deval. The musical opened at the Broadway Theatre on March 18, 1963, with Vivien Leigh and Jean-Pierre Aumont as Scourby's prey. "The signal tribute to Alexander Scourby...," Norman Nadel observed in his review in the New York World-Telegram and Sun (April 2, 1963), "was the hearty hissing opening night as he strolled on stage. In polished villainy, he has no peer." Shortly after Tovarich closed, on November 9, 1963, after 264 performances, Scourby began rehearsals in Los Angeles for a Theatre Group presentation of Anton Chekhov's The Sea Gull, in which he starred with Jeannette Nolan for forty performances, beginning on January 10, 1964.

In the early 1950s, Scourby worked in television as both a narrator and actor. One of his continuing assignments was as narrator for the NBC-TV's Project 20 show. He narrated a ninety-minute condensation of the television series, Victory at Sea, for Project 20 in 1954. His assignments for the program included Three, Two, One, Zero, about the atomic bomb, and three religious documentaries using great paintings to tell the Bible story: The Coming of Christ (at Christmas); He Is Risen (at Easter); and The Law and Prophets of the Old Testament.

As a television actor, Scourby had roles on Playhouse 90, Circle Theatre, and Studio One. He refused to tie himself down to a series, because, as he has explained, "it's hard to do good things that way." He took occasional parts in Daniel Boone, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Defenders, and other set-format dramatic shows. Most of the filmed shows were produced in California. In 1972, he joined his wife, Lori March, on The Secret Storm, where they played husband and wife, Ian and Valerie Northcott, until the show's cancellation in 1974.^[3]

Partly to give himself more time on the East Coast, after 1960, he lent his voice to certain television commercials, notably those of Eastern Airlines, and was the voice of choice of numerous advertisers for their commercials. Scourby became one of the highest paid voice-over talents of his day. When advertisers couldn’t get Scourby, they would instruct their agents to get them "a Scourby voice." He narrated numerous TV documentaries, including the CBS TV series The National Geographic Society Specials and The Body Human.

King James recordings[link]

Scourby was the first person to record the King James Bible on long play records in the 1950s. He originally narrated the Old and New Testament of the King James Version for the American Foundation for the Blind and it took over four years to complete, finishing in 1953. Their original goal was to produce a clean, clear recording for visually impaired listeners. The American Bible Society distributed the recordings as The Talking Bible, a set of 169 records with a running time of 84.5 hours.

With the advent of cassette tape technology in the 1970s, a number of companies began selling copies of the 1950 Scourby recordings without permission, assuming that they were in public domain. In the 1980s, a Florida company, called Neva Products, sought to sell those recordings via TV direct-response advertisements. Prior to doing that, however, Neva commissioned a law firm to research whether or not the recordings were in public domain. The legal opinion came back that they WERE NOT in public domain and that certain rights were associated with the recordings that could be protected. Based upon this legal opinion, Neva Products negotiated a non-exclusive license agreement with Alexander Scourby by agreeing to pay a royalty on all sales.

The TV promotion went very well. However, some companies continued selling the recordings without authorization, even though they were contacted by Neva telling them they were not in the public domain and to cease and desist. Neva Products then negotiated an exclusive license agreement with Alexander Scourby in 1984 whereupon Neva commenced law suits against numerous companies to stop them from selling the recordings without proper authorization. Neva was successful in this effort.

One of the biggest organizations to be sued was The Christian Booksellers Association (CBA) from Colorado Springs, Colorado. They were sued because they permitted companies to illegally sell the Scourby recordings at the annual CBA convention—even after being notified that those companies not authorized to do so. Neva prevailed in that lawsuit. CBA had to pay substantial money damages for their infraction.

Scourby produced another recording of the King James Bible for The Episcopal Radio and TV Foundation (ERTF) in 1972 with the representation that they would only be used in the Episcopal Community and for non-profit purposes. When this recording began to be commercially exploited out in the general market as Alexander Scourby's latest narration, in 1986, Neva Products and the estate of Alexander Scourby sued The Episcopal Radio and TV Foundation from Atlanta, Georgia and Christian Duplication Inc (CDI)from Orlando, Florida. CDI improperly purchased the recordings for commercial exploitation and refused to stop selling them after being notified by both Neva and the Estate of Alexander Scourby. At a 1989 Federal Jury Trial, the jury found both ERTF and CDI had breached their contract with Alexander Scourby. The jury awarded substantial damages to Neva Products and the Estate of Alexander Scourby and also awarded the rights to the 1970s recordings to Neva Products and the Estate of Alexander Scourby. The verdict forced ERFT, which was not officially part of the Episcopal Church, into bankruptcy.

It took Neva Products approximately 5 years to stop all of the unauthorized selling of the Scourby recordings, but finally, in 1990 they were successful. In 1990, Neva Products sold their rights in the recordings to Litchfield Associates and in 1991 Litchfield Associates bought all rights, titles, and interests—including the copyrights from the estate of Alexander Scourby. The copyrights have a date of 1991. Litchfield continues to this day to market the Scourby recordings worldwide through various license agreements and online. Scourby's recordings of the Holy Bible are still among the most popular religious recordings available today.

Poetry recordings[link]

Scourby also made recordings of British and American poetry. One of his most notable was the LP A Golden Treasury of Poetry, recorded for the children's label Golden Records. It featured readings of such poems as Paul Revere's Ride, Gunga Din, The Highwayman, and Annabel Lee, and commentary written by Louis Untermeyer.

Personal life[link]

Scourby and Lori von Eltz were married on May 12, 1943. Von Eltz was the daughter of motion-picture actor Theodor von Eltz, and was well-known as an actress on television, Broadway and in film working under the pseudonym Lori March. The couple had a daughter, Alexandra, born on March 27, 1944. Scourby had no political affiliation nor any specific religious affiliations, though he was baptized in the Greek Orthodox tradition and his marriage to von Eltz occurred in an Episcopalian chapel.

Scourby died of a heart attack on February 22, 1985 in Newtown, Connecticut at the age of 71.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Alexander Scourby at the Internet Movie Database
• Alexander Scourby at the TCM Movie Database