The present research deals with Matthew's version of the eschatological discourse. Our first step was to determine the boundaries of this text. Our survey of scholarly opinions has shown that a general consensus regards 24:1 as the beginning of the discourse, while it places the ending in 25:46. We are in agreement with the view about the beginning in 24:1 but contest the ending. Our proposal is that 26:2 marks the ending of this particular discourse rather than 25:46. Subsequently, 26:1-2 is an essential part of this eschatological discourse. From the content of the text there are several reasons in support of this position. From a theological point of view we consider the disciples' question in 24:3 to be an expression of their eschatological anxiety and expectation that after his departure Jesus as the Messiah will return to reclaim possession of the temple. But Jesus' announcement in 26:2 that the Son of Man will be crucified begs the question: how can Jesus' $\pi\alpha\rho o\upsilon\sigma\acute\iota\alpha$ take place if he will be crucified within two days? This research is an effort to provide adequate answers to the structural and theological questions which arise in the course of reading this text. As our modus operandi we have used the semiotic method in its two stages of the discursive and narrative sequences, and then we made a theological commentary. Two hypotheses based on the above question have guided our investigation: one, the Son of Man's crucifixion on the day of Passover implies that it is necessary for the Son to go to his Father in order to come back empowered to judge all the nations, and two, the $\pi\alpha\rho o\upsilon\sigma\acute\iota\alpha$ of the Son of Man is above all a spiritual and personal experience of faith for those who await his coming. The whole thesis consists of four chapters. The first chapter is devoted to the cutting of the text. The second and third deal with the discursive and narrative sequences of the text respectively. While the first half of the fourth chapter tackles the coherence of the discursive and narrative elements, the second half of the same chapter is a theological commentary. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uottawa.ca/oai:ruor.uottawa.ca:10393/4306 |
| Date | January 1998 |
| Creators | Dlungwana, Mlungisi Pius. |
| Contributors | Laberge, Leo, |
| Publisher | University of Ottawa (Canada) |
| Source Sets | Université d’Ottawa |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 242 p. |
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