Customer Reviews

The Influence of the Gospel of Saint Matthew on Christian Literature Before... (New Gospel Studies)

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This book, the second of a series of three, is deceptively named. Although the title mentions only the Gospel of Matthew, Massaux actually discusses each New Testament book and how it was used by various early Christian writers (such as the Letter of Polycarp).

Although I have seen lists of supposed allussions to the NT by Apostolic Fathers, Massaux goes into much more detail. He ably and soberly sorts through the possible New Testament allusions and quotes. He organizes his material by devoting a chapter to each Apostolic Father and sections within each chapter to pariticular writings. Then there are subsections devoted to how the particular Apostolic Father's writing uses each New Testament book. There is also a very helpful scripture index at the end, which allows you to research particular verses and how they were used by all of the Apostolic Fathers.

This is not light reading. The translation of the French is pretty good, but not always lucid. And much of the discussion is about the use of particular greek phrases. Even so, laypersons can manage and benefit from the material.

If you are looking to discover which New Testament books were used by which Apostolic Fathers, this book is invaluable.