Preface; Acknowledgments; Abbreviations; Introduction; Part One Clearing Ground and Building Anew; Chapter One Challenging the Circumlocution Assumption; Chapter Two A Survey of Heaven in the Old Testament and Second Temple Literature; Chapter Three A Survey of Heaven in Matthew; Chapter Four Heaven and Earth in the Context of Matthean Studies and Theology; Part Two Matthew's Idiolectic Use of Heaven Language and the Theme of Heaven and Earth; Chapter Five???a??? and???a??? in the Septuagint and Second Temple Literature; Chapter Six???a??? and???a??? in Matthew
Summary
A much-overlooked aspect of the Gospel of Matthew is the theme of heaven and earth. Rather than being a reverential circumlocution for God, 'heaven' in Matthew is part of a highly developed discourse of heaven and earth language. Matthew's idiolectic way of using heaven language consists of four aspects: 1) a distinction in meaning between singular and plural forms of ""ouranos""; 2) frequent use of the heaven and earth word pair; 3) regular reference to the Father in heaven; and 4) the recurrent use of the Matthean expression, kingdom of heaven. This book examines the historical precedents fo
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 353-376) and indexes
