Short abstract
"I want to make a strong distinction between the idea of God's wrath and the idea of God's judgment, viz. Justice. While the first idea would be, I suggest, an elemental category, at least as it figures in Pauline theology, the second would be a social category derived, in the case of the Gospel of Matthew, from Israelite jurisprudence. Both ideas have a form of violence attached to them. In the case of the Gospel of Matthew, this would be what I shall call the violence of the law, which follows from seeking to fulfil, or perfect, it. At this point, Walter Benjamin’s critique of violence will become very helpful for understanding what is at stake here."
About Professor Vaage
Dr. Leif E. Vaage is Professor of New Testament at Emmanuel college of Victoria University in the University of Toronto. His many research interests include the social practices of biblical interpretation, especially in Latin America, and the social projects of earliest Christianity, especially those associated with the historical Jesus and his first followers in Galilee, and the historical Paul. Among his recent publications are Trauma, Erzählung, Befreiung: Das Markusevangelium aus amerikanischer Perspektive (Theologie interkulturell, 25. Ostfildern: Matthia-Grünewald, 2017); Borderline Exegesis (University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2014); and Columbus, Q & Rome: Reframing Interpretation of the Christian Bible (Stuttgart: Katholisches Bibelwerk, 2011).
