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Book Review: Meaning in Texts

the vivid scene of 25:31-46 confirm these universal lures embedded in Matthew's text. Fidelity to the law of love (equivalent to authentic human existence) is a standard by which all are judged, even those outside the confines of the confessing Christian community. P. concludes his study by confronting these universal dimensions of the Gospel with its apparent soteriological affirmations. As P. clearly recognizes, if it can be shown that Matthew considers Jesus' death to have unique saving significance, as truly effecting a "cosmic shift" in reality itself, then the universal, existential implications of his vision are blunted or even eliminated. P. studies 1:21,20:28, and 26:28, and concludes that an atonement or vicarious-satisfaction interpretation of Jesus' death is, at best, peripheral to the Evangelist's theology. Thus, P. affirms, a study of Matthew in the light of a process hermeneutic leads to what he terms a "catalytic christology," a Christ who is ultimately a symbol of a deeper view of reality that, on the one hand, points to authentic human existence defined by love and, on the other, to a universal understanding of the God who grounds such existence. P.'s work is thought-provoking and refreshing, and his interpretation of several passages in Matthew does isolate enticing universal implications. But there are some important elements of Matthew's Christological portrait which P. does not treat, such as the miracle material (essential Christological elements of the Gospel) and the Christological titles. And his chapter on Matthew's soteriology limps. While Matthew may not delineate a classical atonement or substitutionary interpretation of Jesus' death, he surely affirms that Jesus' death is a turning point in salvation history (cf. 27:51-53, a text not treated by P.) and that the deathresurrection of Jesus rescues those trapped in death. And these affirmations are predicated on the Evangelist's conviction that the identity and mission of Jesus are absolutely unique. An existential interpretation of Matthew and other New Testament Christologies may be possible, but such interpretations will not be adequate until the "confessional" dimensions of the text are fully confronted.