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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 first century A.D.^[1] The anonymous author probably drew on a number of sources besides his own experiences, including the Gospel of Mark, the sayings collection known as the Q source, and material unique to his own community.^[2] The narrative tells how Jesus left his profession at middle age and began claiming that he was the Messiah of the Israelite Hebrew religion. The narrative continues in describing how Jesus gathered an inner circle of disciples, taught throughout the Levant, and how he commissioned his followers to teach throughout the world. It describes how Jesus was rejected by the tribal government, and was soon after convicted of treason and blasphemy and executed under Roman jurisdiction.^[3]

Composition and setting[link]

Evangelist Mathäus und der Engel by Rembrandt

Authorship and sources[link]

The Gospel of Matthew is historically attributed to The Evangelist Matthew the same as described in the text. The text does not specifically name Matthew as its author, thus inviting academic inquiry into other possible sources of the document. 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 scholars today theorize otherwise—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]

Some critics in academia theorize 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] 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]

Bibliography[link]

• Allison, D.C. (2004). Matthew: A Shorter Commentary. T&T Clark. ISBN 978-0-567-08249-7. 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 978-0-567-08355-5. 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 978-0-567-08365-4. 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 978-0-567-08375-3. 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 978-0-8028-2501-8. 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 978-0-8028-3821-6. 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 978-0-8006-9600-9. 
• Luz, Ulrich (2001). Matthew 8-20: a commentary. Fortress Press. ISBN 978-0-8006-6034-5. 
• Luz, Ulrich (2005). Matthew 21-28: a commentary. Fortress Press. ISBN 978-0-8006-3770-5. 
• Morris, Leon (1992). The Gospel according to Matthew. Eerdmans. ISBN 978-0-85111-338-8. 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 978-0-8010-2684-3. 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 978-0-8028-4673-0. 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 978-0-664-25018-8. 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 978-0-521-83285-4. 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 978-0-8028-3785-1. 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 978-0-19-860890-5. 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 978-0-521-00720-7. 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 978-0-253-34235-5. 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 978-1-4051-0825-6. 
• Dunn, James D.G. (2003). Jesus Remembered. Eerdmans. ISBN 978-0-8028-3931-2. 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 978-0-521-57007-7. 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 978-0-19-513937-2. 
• Luz, Ulrich (2005). Studies in Matthew. Eerdmans. ISBN 978-0-8028-3964-0. 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 978-0-521-43576-5. 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 978-0-310-45571-4. 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 978-0-521-48593-7. 
• 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 978-0-8028-3711-0. 
• Saldarini, Anthony (1994). Matthew's Christian-Jewish Community. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-73421-7. 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 978-0-8028-4673-0. 
• Senior, Donald (1996). What are they saying about Matthew?. PaulistPress. ISBN 978-0-8091-3624-7. 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 978-0-664-25499-5. 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 978-0-664-22336-6. 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 978-90-232-4077-8. 
• 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 978-90-232-4077-8. 

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

Pier Paolo Pasolini
200px
Born	(1922-03-05)March 5, 1922 Bologna, Italy
Died	November 2, 1975(1975-11-02) (aged 53) Ostia, Rome, Italy
Occupation	Film director, novelist, poet, intellectual, journalist, linguist, philosopher
Notable work(s)	Accattone Salò The Gospel According to St. Matthew
Influences Dante Alighieri, Giovanni Boccaccio, Geoffrey Chaucer, William Shakespeare, Novalis, Marquis de Sade, Charles Baudelaire, Arthur Rimbaud, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Carlo Emilio Gadda, Giovanni Pascoli, Antonio Gramsci
Influenced Sylvia Plath, Alberto Moravia, Sergei Parajanov, Ermanno Olmi, Nanni Moretti, Kathy Acker, Diamanda Galás, Michael Haneke, Catherine Breillat
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Pier Paolo Pasolini (March 5, 1922 – November 2, 1975) was an Italian film director, poet, writer and intellectual. Pasolini distinguished himself as a poet, journalist, philosopher, linguist, novelist, playwright, filmmaker, newspaper and magazine columnist, actor, painter and political figure. He demonstrated a unique and extraordinary cultural versatility, becoming a highly controversial figure in the process.

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Pasolini was born in Bologna, traditionally one of the most leftist of Italian cities. He was the son of a lieutenant of the Italian Army, Carlo Alberto, who had become famous for saving Benito Mussolini's life during Anteo Zamboni's assassination attempt, and subsequently married an elementary school teacher, Susanna Colussi, in 1921. Pasolini was born in 1922 and was named after his paternal uncle. His family moved to Conegliano in 1923 and, two years later, to Belluno, where another son, Guidalberto, was born. In 1926, Pasolini's father was arrested for gambling debts, and his mother took the children to her family's house in Casarsa della Delizia, in the Friuli region.

Pasolini began writing poems at the age of seven, inspired by the natural beauty of Casarsa. One of his early influences was the work of Arthur Rimbaud. In 1933 his father was transferred to Cremona, and later to Scandiano and Reggio Emilia. Pasolini found it difficult to adapt to all these moves, though in the meantime he enlarged his poetry and literature readings (Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, Shakespeare, Coleridge, Novalis) and left behind the religious fervour of his early years. In the Reggio Emilia high school, he met his first true friend, Luciano Serra. The two met again in Bologna, where Pasolini spent seven years while completing high school: here he cultivated new passions, including football. With other friends, including Ermes Parini, Franco Farolfi, Elio Meli, he formed a group dedicated to literary discussions.

In 1939 Pasolini graduated and entered the Literature College of the University of Bologna, discovering new themes such as philology and aesthetics of figurative arts. He also frequented the local cinema club. Pasolini always showed his friends a virile and strong exterior, totally hiding his interior travail. He took part in the Fascist government's culture and sports competitions. In 1941, together with Francesco Leonetti, Roberto Roversi and others, he attempted to publish a poetry magazine, but the attempt failed due to paper shortages. In his poems of this period, Pasolini started to include fragments in Friulan, which he had learned from his mother.

Early poetry[link]

After the summer in Casarsa, in 1941 Pasolini published at his own expense a collection of poems in Friulan, Versi a Casarsa. The work was noted and appreciated by intellectuals and critics such as Gianfranco Contini, Alfonso Gatto and Antonio Russi. His pictures had also been well received. Pasolini was chief editor of the Il Setaccio ("The Sieve") magazine, but was fired after conflicts with the director, who was aligned with the Fascist regime. A trip to Germany helped him also to discover the "provincial" status of Italian culture in that era. These experiences led Pasolini to rethink his opinion about the cultural politics of Fascism and to switch gradually to a Communist position.

In 1942, the family took shelter in Casarsa, considered a more tranquil place to wait for the conclusion of the war, a decision common among Italian military families. Here, for the first time, Pasolini had to face the erotic disquiet he had suppressed during his adolescent years. He wrote: "A continuous perturbation without images or words beats at my temples and obscures me".^{[citation needed]}

In the weeks before the 8 September armistice, Pasolini was drafted. He was captured and imprisoned by the Germans. He managed to escape disguised as a peasant, and found his way to Casarsa. Here he joined a group of other young fans of the Friulan language who wanted to give Casarsa Friulan a status equal to that of Udine, the official regional standard. From May 1944 they issued a magazine entitled Stroligùt di cà da l'aga. In the meantime, Casarsa suffered Allied bombardments and forced enrollments by the Italian Social Republic, as well as partisan activity.

Pasolini tried to remain apart from these events. He and his mother taught students unable to reach the schools in Pordenone or Udine. He experienced his first homosexual love for one of his students. At the same time, a Slovenian schoolgirl, Pina Kalč, was falling in love with Pasolini. On 12 February 1945 his brother Guido was killed in an ambush. Six days later Pasolini and others founded the Friulan Language Academy (Academiuta di lenga furlana). In the same year Pasolini joined the Association for the Autonomy of Friuli. He graduated after completing a final thesis about Giovanni Pascoli's works.

In 1946 Pasolini published a small poetry collection, I Diarii ("The Diaries"), with the Academiuta. In October he travelled to Rome. The following May he began the so-called Quaderni Rossi, handwritten in old school exercise books with red covers. He completed a drama in Italian, Il Cappellano. His poetry collection, I Pianti ("The cries"), was also published by the Academiuta.

Relationship with the Italian Communist Party[link]

On 26 January 1947 Pasolini wrote a controversial declaration for the front page of the newspaper Libertà: "In our opinion, we think that currently only Communism is able to provide a new culture." The controversy was partly due to the fact he was still not a member of the Italian Communist Party (PCI).

He was also planning to extend the work of the Academiuta to other Romance language literatures and knew the exiled Catalan poet, Carles Cardó. After his adherence to the PCI, he took part in several demonstrations. In May 1949, Pasolini attended the Peace Congress in Paris. Observing the struggles of workers and peasants, and watching the clashes of protesters with Italian police, he began to create his first novel.

In October of the same year, Pasolini was charged with the corruption of minors and obscene acts in public places. As a result, he was expelled by the Udine section of the Communist Party and lost the teaching job he had obtained the previous year in Valvasone. Left in a difficult situation, in January 1950 Pasolini moved to Rome with his mother.

He later described this period of his life as very difficult. "I came to Rome from the Friulan countryside. Unemployed for many years; ignored by everybody; driven by the fear to be not as life needed to be". Instead of asking for help from other writers, Pasolini preferred to go his own way. He found a job as a worker in the Cinecittà studios and sold his books in the 'bancarelle' ("sidewalk shops") of Rome. Finally, through the help of the Abruzzese-language poet Vittorio Clemente, he found a job as a teacher in Ciampino, a suburb of the capital.

In these years Pasolini transferred his Friulan countryside inspiration to Rome's suburbs, the infamous borgate where poor proletarian immigrants lived in often horrendous sanitary and social conditions.

Success and charges[link]

In 1954, Pasolini, who now worked for the literary section of Italian state radio, left his teaching job and moved to the Monteverde quarter, publishing La meglio gioventù, his first important collection of dialect poems. His first novel, Ragazzi di vita (English: Hustlers), was published in 1955. The work had great success but was poorly received by the PCI establishment and, most importantly, by the Italian government. It initiated a lawsuit^[specify] against Pasolini and his editor, Garzanti. Though totally exonerated of any charge, Pasolini became a victim of insinuations, especially by the tabloid press.

In 1957, together with Sergio Citti, Pasolini collaborated on Federico Fellini's film Le notti di Cabiria, writing dialogue for the Roman dialect parts. In 1960 he made his debut as an actor in Il gobbo, and co-wrote Long Night in 1943.

His first film as director and screenwriter is Accattone of 1961, again set in Rome's marginal quarters. The movie aroused controversy and scandal. In 1963, the episode "La ricotta", included in the collective movie RoGoPaG, was censored and Pasolini was tried for offence to the Italian state.

During this period Pasolini frequently traveled abroad: in 1961, with Elsa Morante and Alberto Moravia to India (where he went again seven years later); in 1962 to Sudan and Kenya; in 1963, to Ghana, Nigeria, Guinea, Jordan and Israel (where he shot the documentary, Sopralluoghi in Palestina). In 1970 he travelled again to Africa to shoot the documentary, Appunti per un'Orestiade africana.

In 1966 he was a member of the jury at the 16th Berlin International Film Festival.^[1]

In 1967, in Venice, he met and interviewed the American poet Ezra Pound.^[2] They discussed about Italian movement neoavanguardia, arts in general and Pasolini read some verses from the Italian version of Pound's Pisan Cantos.^[2]

The late 1960s and early 1970s were the era of the so-called "student movement". Pasolini, though acknowledging the students' ideological motivations, thought them "anthropologically middle-class" and therefore destined to fail in their attempts at revolutionary change. Regarding the Battle of Valle Giulia, which took place in Rome in March 1968, he said that he sympathized with the police, as they were "children of the poor", while the young militants were exponents of what he called "left-wing fascism". His film of that year, Teorema, was shown at the annual Venice Film Festival in a hot political climate. Pasolini had proclaimed that the Festival would be managed by the directors (see also Works section).

In 1970 Pasolini bought an old castle near Viterbo, several miles north of Rome, where he began to write his last novel, Petrolio, which was never finished. In 1972 he started to collaborate with the extreme-left association Lotta Continua, producing a documentary, 12 dicembre, concerning the Piazza Fontana bombing. The following year he began a collaboration for Italy's most renowned newspaper, Il Corriere della Sera.

At the beginning of 1975 Garzanti published a collection of critical essays, Scritti corsari ("Corsair Writings").

Death[link]

Pasolini was murdered by being run over several times with his own car, dying on 2 November 1975 on the beach at Ostia, near Rome. Pasolini was buried in Casarsa, in his beloved Friuli.

Giuseppe Pelosi, a seventeen-year-old hustler, was arrested and confessed to murdering Pasolini. Thirty years later, on 7 May 2005, he retracted his confession, which he said was made under the threat of violence to his family. He claimed that three people "with a southern accent" had committed the murder, insulting Pasolini as a "dirty communist".^[3]

Other evidence uncovered in 2005 pointed to Pasolini's having been murdered by an extortionist. Testimony by Pasolini's friend Sergio Citti indicated that some of the rolls of film from Salò had been stolen, and that Pasolini had been going to meet with the thieves after a visit to Stockholm, November 2, 1975.^{[4][5][6][7][8]} Despite the Roman police's reopening of the murder case following Pelosi's statement of May 2005, the judges charged with investigating it determined the new elements insufficient for them to continue the inquiry.

Political views[link]

Pasolini generated heated public discussion with controversial analyses of public affairs. For instance, during the disorders of 1969, when the autonomist university students were carrying on a guerrilla-like uprising against the police in the streets of Rome and all the leftist forces declared their complete support for the students, describing the disorders as a civil fight of proletariat against the System, Pasolini, alone among the communists, declared that he was with the police; or, more precisely, with the policemen. He considered them true proletariat, sent to fight for a poor salary and for reasons which they could not understand, against pampered boys of their same age, because they had not had the fortune of being able to study, referring to poliziotti figli di proletari meridionali picchiati da figli di papà in vena di bravate (lit. policemen, sons of proletarian southerners, beaten up by arrogant daddys' boys). This ironic statement, however, did not stop him from contributing to the autonomist Lotta continua movement.

Pasolini was also an ardent critic of consumismo, i.e. consumerism, which he felt had rapidly destroyed Italian society in the late 1960s/early 1970s. He was particularly concerned about the class of the subproletariat, which he portrayed in Accattone, and to which he felt both humanly and artistically drawn. Pasolini observed that the kind of purity which he perceived in the pre-industrial popular culture was rapidly vanishing, a process that he named la scomparsa delle lucciole (lit. "the disappearance of glow-worms"). The joie de vivre of the boys was being rapidly replaced with more bourgeois ambitions such as a house and a family. He described the coprophagia scenes in Salò as a comment on the processed food industry. He often described consumeristic culture as "unreal", as it had been imposed by economic power and had replaced Italy's traditional peasant culture, something that not even fascism had been able to do. In one interview, he said: "I hate with particular vehemency the current power, the power of 1975, which is a power that manipulates bodies in a horrible way; a manipulation that has nothing to envy to that performed by Himmler or Hitler."

He was angered by economic globalization and cultural domination of the North of Italy (around Milan) over other regions, especially the South.^{[citation needed]} He felt this was accomplished through the power of TV. He opposed the gradual disappearance of Italian dialects by writing some of his poetry in Friulan, the regional language of his childhood. Despite his left-wing views, Pasolini opposed the liberalization of abortion laws.^[9]

Sexuality[link]

The LGBT encyclopedia states the following regarding Pasolini's homosexuality:

While openly gay from the very start of his career (thanks to a gay sex scandal that sent him packing from his provincial hometown to live and work in Rome), Pasolini rarely dealt with homosexuality in his movies. The subject is featured prominently in Teorema (1968), where Terence Stamp's mysterious God-like visitor seduces the son and father of an upper-middle-class family; passingly in Arabian Nights (1974), in an idyll between a king and a commoner that ends in death; and, most darkly of all, in Salò (1975), his infamous rendition of the Marquis de Sade's compendium of sexual horrors, The 120 Days of Sodom.^[10]

In 1963 he met "the great love of his life," fifteen-year-old Ninetto Davoli whom he later cast in his 1966 film Uccellacci e uccellini (literally Bad Birds and Little Birds but translated in English as The Hawks and the Sparrows), Pasolini became his mentor and friend. "Even though their sexual relations lasted only a few years, Ninetto continued to live with Pasolini and was his constant companion, as well as appearing in six more of his films."^[11]

Works[link]

Pasolini's first novel Ragazzi di vita (1955) dealt with the Roman lumpenproletariat. The resulting obscenity charges against him were the first of many instances where his art provoked legal problems. Accattone (1961), also about the Roman underworld, also provoked controversy with conservatives, who demanded stricter censorship.

He then directed the black-and-white The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964). This film is a cinematic adaptation of the life of Jesus (Enrique Irazoqui). While filming it, Pasolini vowed to direct it from the "believer's point of view", but later said that upon viewing the completed work, he realized he had instead expressed his own beliefs.

In his 1966 film, Uccellacci e uccellini (literally Bad Birds and Little Birds but translated in English as The Hawks and the Sparrows), a picaresque - and at the same time mystic - fable, he hired the great Italian comedian Totò to work with one of his preferred "naif" actors, Ninetto Davoli. It was a unique opportunity for Totò to demonstrate that he was a great dramatic actor as well.

In Teorema (Theorem, 1968), starring Terence Stamp as a mysterious stranger, he depicted the sexual coming-apart of a bourgeois family (later repeated by François Ozon in Sitcom and Takashi Miike in Visitor Q).

Later movies centered on sex-laden folklore, such as Boccaccio's Decameron (1971) and Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (1972) and Il fiore delle mille e una notte (literally The Flower of 1001 Nights, released in English as Arabian Nights, 1974). These films are usually grouped as the Trilogy of Life.

His final work, Salò (Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom, 1975), exceeded what most viewers could then stomach in its explicit scenes of intensely sadistic violence. Based on the novel 120 Days of Sodom by the Marquis de Sade, it is considered his most controversial film. In May 2006, Time Out's Film Guide named it the Most Controversial Film of all time.

Legacy[link]

As a director, Pasolini created a picaresque neorealism, showing a sad reality. Many people did not want to see such portrayals in artistic work for public distribution. Mamma Roma (1962), featuring Anna Magnani and telling the story of a prostitute and her son, was an affront to the morality of those times. His works, with their unequaled poetry applied to cruel realities, showing that such realities are less distant from us than we imagine, made a major contribution to change in the Italian psyche.^{[citation needed][12]}

The director also promoted in his works the concept of "natural sacredness," the idea that the world is holy in and of itself. He suggested there was no need for spiritual essence or supernatural blessing to attain this state. Pasolini was an avowed atheist.

General disapproval of Pasolini's work was perhaps caused primarily by his frequent focus on sexual mores, and the contrast between what he presented and publicly sanctioned behavior. While Pasolini's poetry often dealt with his same-sex love interests, this was not the only, or even main, theme. His interest and approach to Italian dialects should also be noted. Much of the poetry was about his highly revered mother. As a sensitive and intelligent man, he depicted certain corners of the contemporary reality as few other poets could do. His poetry was not as well known as his films outside Italy.^{[citation needed][13]}

He had also developed a philosophy of the language mainly related with his studies on Cinema;^[14] this theorical and critical activity was another debated topic by the acclimated cultural background as the collected articles still available today show pretty clearly.^[12][15][16]

These studies can be considered as the foundation of his artistic point of view, as a matter of fact they basically point out two aspects: the language - as English, Italian, dialect or other - is a rigid system in which the human thought is trapped as well; the cinema is the written language of reality which, like any other written language, enable man to see things from the point of view of truth.^[14]

His films won awards at the Berlin Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival, Venice Film Festival, Italian National Syndicate for Film Journalists, Jussi Awards, Kinema Junpo Awards, International Catholic Film Office and New York Film Critics Circle.

Ebbo Demant directed the documentary Das Mitleid ist gestorben about Pasolini.

In 2005 Stefano Battaglia recorded Re: Pasolini in dedication to Pasolini.

Filmography[link]

Feature films[link]

All titles listed below were written and directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini unless stated otherwise. Although obviously Oedipus Rex and Medea are loosely based on plays by Sophocles and Euripides respectively, significant liberties were taken with original texts and titles do not credit anyone except Pasolini. The latter is also true in the case of St. Matthew.

Documentaries[link]

• Sopralluoghi in Palestina per Il Vangelo secondo Matteo (1964)
• Comizi d'amore (Love Meetings, 1964)
• Appunti per un film sull'India (1969)
• Appunti per un romanzo dell'immondizia (1970)
• Le mura di Sana'a (1971)
• 12 Dicembre 1972 (long and short version) (1972)
• Pasolini e la forma della città (1975)
• Appunti per un'Orestiade Africana (Notes Towards an African Orestes, 1975)

Episodes in omnibus films[link]

• La ricotta in RoGoPaG (1963)
• First segment of La rabbia (1963)
• La Terra vista dalla Luna in Le streghe (The Witches, 1967)
• Che cosa sono le nuvole? Capriccio all'Italiana (1968)
• La sequenza del fiore di carta in Amore e rabbia (1969)

Bibliography[link]

Narrative[link]

• Poems
• Ragazzi di vita (The Ragazzi, 1955)
• Una vita violenta (A Violent Life, 1959)
• Il sogno di una cosa (1962)
• Amado Mio - Atti Impuri (1982, originally composed in 1948)
• Alì dagli occhi azzurri (1965)
• Reality (The Poets' Encyclopedia, 1979)
• Petrolio (1992, incomplete)

Poetry[link]

• La meglio gioventù (1954)
• Le ceneri di Gramsci (1957)
• L'usignolo della chiesa cattolica (1958)
• La religione del mio tempo (1961)
• Poesia in forma di rosa (1964)
• Trasumanar e organizzar (1971)
• La nuova gioventù (1975)
• Roman Poems. Pocket Poets #41 (1986)

Essays[link]

• Passione e ideologia (1960)
• Canzoniere italiano, poesia popolare italiana (1960)
• Empirismo eretico (1972)
• Lettere luterane (1976)
• Le belle bandiere (1977)
• Descrizioni di descrizioni (1979)
• Il caos (1979)
• La pornografia è noiosa (1979)
• Scritti corsari (1975)
• Lettere (1940–1954) (Letters, 1940-54, 1986)

Theatre[link]

• Orgia (1968)
• Porcile (1968)
• Calderón (1973)
• Affabulazione (1977)
• Pilade (1977)
• Bestia da stile (1977)

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Aichele, George. "Translation as De-canonization: Matthew's Gospel According to Pasolini - filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini - Critical Essay." Cross Currents (2002). FindArticles.
• Distefano, John. "Picturing Pasolini." Art Journal (1997).
• Eloit, Audrene. "Oedipus Rex by Pier Paolo Pasolini The Palimpsest: Rewriting and the Creation of Pasolini's Cinematic Language." Literature Film Quarterly (2004). FindArticles.
• Fabbro, Elena (ed.). Il mito greco nell'opera di Pasolini. Atti del Convegno Udine-Casarsa della Delizia, 24-26 ottobre 2002. Udine: Forum (2004). ISBN 88-8420-230-2
• Forni, Kathleen. "A "cinema of poetry": What Pasolini Did to Chancer's Canterbury Tales." Literature Film Quarterly (2002). FindArticles.
• Frisch, Anette. "Francesco Vezzolini: Pasolini Reloaded." Interview, Rutgers University Alexander Library, New Brunwick, NJ.
• Green, Martin. "The Dialectic Adaptation."
• Greene, Naomi. Pier Paolo Pasilini: Cinema as Heresy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1990.
• Meyer-Krahmer, Benjamin. "Transmediality and Pastiche as Techniques in Pasolini’s Art Production", in: P.P.P. - Pier Paolo Pasolini and death, eds. Bernhart Schwenk, Michael Semff, Ostfildern 2005, p. 109 - 118
• Passannanti, Erminia. The Sacred Transgressed. Pasolini, the Roman Catholic Church and Secularity in the short film "La ricotta", Brindin Press (2009).
• Passannanti, Erminia. Il Cristo dell'Eresia. Sacro e censura nel cinema di Pier Paolo Pasolini, Joker (2009).
• Passannanti, Erminia. Deconstruction and redefinition of the Italian Catholic Identity in Pier Paolo Pasolini's La ricotta, in Italy on Screen: National Identity and Italian Imaginary, Lucy Bolton and Christina Siggers Manson (eds.), Series New Studies in European Cinema series, Peter Lang (2010).
• Pugh, Tison. "Chaucerian Fabliaux, Cinematic Fabliau: Pier Paolo Pasolini's I racconti di Canterbury.", Literature Film Quarterly (2004). FindArticles.
• Restivo, Angelo. The Cinema of Economic Miracles: Visuality and Modernization in the Italian Art Film. London: Duke UP, 2002.
• Rohdie, Sam. The Passion of Pier Paolo Pasolini. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana UP, 1995.
• Rumble, Patrick A. Allegories of contamination: Pier Paolo Pasolini's Trilogy of life. Toronto: University of Toronto P, 1996.
• Schwartz, Barth D. Pasolini Requiem. 1st ed. New York: Pantheon Books, 1992.
• Siciliano, Enzo. Pasolini: A Biography. Trans. John Shepley. New York: Random House, 1982.
• Viano, Maurizio. A Certain Realism: Making Use of Pasolini's Film Theory and Practice. Berkeley: University of California P, 1993.
• Willimon, William H. "Faithful to the script", Christian Century (2004).

External links[link]

• Pier Paolo Pasolini at the Internet Movie Database
• Pasolini on Filmgalerie451
• Piers Paolo Pasolini, Italian website with extensive commentary
• "Piers Paolo Pasolini", Senses of Cinema
• BBC News report on the reopening of the murder case
• Guy Flatley: "The Atheist Who Was Obsessed with God", MovieCrazed
• Doug Ireland, "Restoring Pasolini", ZMag
• Maria Callas in Pasolini's Medea
• Pasolini's own notes on Salo from 1974
• Pier Paolo Pasolini poems Original Italian text.
• Video (in Italian): Pasolini on the destructive impact of television (interrupted and half-censored by Enzo Biagi)
• Italian website dedicated to Pasolini
• Pasolini's second to last interview, long believed to have been lost