Reading Matthew 3-4: Jesus—Sage,Seer,Sophia,Son of God

Abstract

Using a socio-rhetorical method of reading in conjunction with a feminist perspec tive on difference, this article suggests a variety of ways in which different commu nities of reception may have heard and understood Matthew 3-4. Particular atten tion is given to the characterization of Jesus within these chapters, not as isolated individual but as character within a narrative that may have been received from different genre perspectives. As a result, a variety of metaphors may have emerged in the interpretation of the Jesus of the gospel as either explicit in the text or from the narrative construction of character.