<\/p>
OK, one trouble, a <\/em> trouble: There are, we are told, \u201cthree views\u201d of the function of Matthew 1:1 \u2013 it\u2019s the heading for the genealogy, it\u2019s the heading for the whole book, or it\u2019s the heading for the first section of the book (perhaps extending to 4:16). <\/p>\n Why has it got to be one or the other? Anyone with more than an ounce of literary sense knows that well-chosen titles send resonances in all sorts of direction. Does Robinson\u2019s \u201cGilead\u201d refer to the Kansas town where the book takes place? To the biblical city? To the associations of that biblical city (\u201cbalm in Gilead,\u201d eg)? Why choose? Surely Robinson meant all of them. <\/p>\n The first chapter of Dickens\u2019 Hard Times is titled \u201cOne Thing Needful.\u201d It\u2019s the title of the first chapter for sure, but it sets up a set of concerns that runs through the remainder of the book, to be picked up by a later chapter title, \u201cAnother Thing Needful.\u201d What could it mean to say that \u201cOne Thing Needful\u201d is \u201cjust\u201d the title for the first chapter? Part of its meaning is its \u201creach\u201d forward to a later chapter title, as well as its extension backward to the story of Mary and Martha. <\/p>\n So, for Matthew, 1:1 introduces the genealogy, but the obvious allusion to Genesis (2:4 and 5:1 in particular) initiates a \u201cnew Genesis\u201d theme that carries forward throughout the gospel story. <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" OK, one trouble, a trouble: There are, we are told, \u201cthree views\u201d of the function of Matthew 1:1 \u2013 it\u2019s the heading for the genealogy, it\u2019s the heading for the whole book, or it\u2019s the heading for the first section of the book (perhaps extending to 4:16). Why has it got to be one or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3021,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hermeneutics"],"yoast_head":"\n