This volume examines a multitude of characters in Matthew's gospel and provides an in-depth look at the different approaches currently employed by scholars working with literary and reader-oriented methods.
Beginning with an introduction on 'the properties of character' and the several aspects involved in the creation of person, the contributors provide a close reading of numerous characters and character types in the Gospel of Matthew. Including Mary, King Herod, John the Baptist, Jesus the Preacher, Jesus the Teacher, God the Father, the Roman Centurion, Peter, Women, Gentiles, Scribes and Pharisees, and Romans. Such close studies aid the understanding of different issues in Matthean characterization, while also charting the development of hermeneutical vistas that have developed in contemporary scholarship, resulting in a collection of exegetical character studies that are self-consciously working from a literary, narrative-critical, reader-oriented, or related methodology.

Craig Evan Anderson is an independent scholar, USA.
Matthew Ryan Hauge is an independent scholar, USA.

List of Contributors
List of Abbreviations

Introduction: Craig Evan Anderson and Matthew Ryan Hauge
1. Joseph: Faithful Jew And Exemplar of Jesus' Teachings
Heather M. Gorman

2. The Passive Protagonist: The Characterization of Mary in the Gospel Of Matthew 1-2 and The Protevangelium of James
Lily C. Vuong

3. Matthew's Herodian Kings as Gentiles
Craig Evan Anderson
4. John the Baptist, Prophet from the Margins
Tucker Samson Ferda

5. Word And Deed: Jesus as a Teacher in the Gospel Of Matthew
Melanie A. Howard

6. Jesus and the Women: The Characterization of Jesus as King In Matthew's Gospel
Catherine Sider-Hamilton

7. Like Father, Like Son: Characterization of God the Father in Matthew's Gospel
Michael P. Knowles

8. (Re)Positioning Power Through Faith: Dyadic Power Theory, the Roman Centurion, and Jesus in Matthew 8:5-13
Justin Marc Smith

9. Peter: A Failed but not a False Disciple According to Saint Matthew
David Lertis Matson

10. The Corporate Portrayal of Women in the Gospel of Matthew as Narrative Disciples
Jeffery W. Aernie

11. The Characterization of the Crowds in the Gospel of Matthew
Robert Cousland

12. The Gentile Other in Matthew: A Theo-Ethnic Teaching Tool for Israel about to be Transformed
Anders Runesson

13. Between Straw Man and Punching Bag: 'Pharisees' as a Character in the Gospel Of Matthew
Eric Ottenheijm

14. Roman Rulers as Characters in Matthew's Gospel: Characterization, the Tyrant Trope, and Political Critique
Adam Winn

Index of References
Index of Authors