The Parable of the Tares and Matthew's Stratagy Vis-a-Vis Extreme Sectarian Impulses From Within His Community

Abstract

"Opinions on the sociohistorical location of the author of the first Gospel and its intended readers with respect to Judaism are many and varying. A classical way to develop a taxonomy of these diverse opinions is to divide them into three categories:1 1. Matthew was written for a Gentile community that had ceased debating with Judaism; 2. It was written for a Jewish-Christian community that had recently severed ties with the synagogue and was dialectically debating with Judaism; 3. It was written between 70 and 85 c.e. for a Jewish-Christian audience that still considered themselves a part of Judaism. Although none of the above solutions overcomes all the raised difficulties, I favor in this article an understanding of the Matthean community as still dealing with fundamental questions of Jewish identity. As Anthony Saldarini writes"