Richard B. Hays [Hays - Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels

A real masterwork from one of the most creative of contemporary New Testament scholars. Anyone who feels nervous about exploring a fully theological reading of the Gospels will take heart from this comprehensive, sophisticated, and profoundly nourishing account of how the Gospels themselves use Scripture theologically and invite us to do the same.

Rowan Williams, Master, Magdalene College, University of Cambridge

In Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels, Richard Hays reads the four Gospels with an acuity of perception that is unmatched. His attention to scriptural subtexts allows each of the evangelists visions to emerge from behind centuries worth of obscuring and false assumptions, and to seize ones imagination afresh. Hays prose is elegant and his arguments are utterly persuasive. Are we really prepared to hear the evangelists speak with this kind of clarity and power?

Susan Garrett, Dean and Professor of New Testament, Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary

Richard Hays has written another wonderful book. Exhibiting the extraordinary literary sensitivity and erudition of his Echoes of Scripture in the Letters of Paul, Hays produces here an even more important argument than in that previous, now-classic work. By tracing carefully the underpinnings of Hebrew biblical allusions in the Gospels, Hays shows how tightly these works are bound up with Israel, the God of Israel, and the Scripture of Israel. The theological implications of this work are astounding. Hays expresses it all in clear and limpid prose that makes the exegesis and the stakes clear as a bell.

Daniel Boyarin, author of The Jewish Gospels: The Story of the Jewish Christ (2012), University of California, Berkeley

This exceptional book combines thoroughness and elegance in equal measure, and also conjoins scholarly rigor with bold Christian conviction in its conclusions. Richard Hays has produced here a gripping account of the diverse approaches of the Evangelists to the Old Testament, and it is a volume to which I can confidently predict I will return again and again.

Simon Gathercole, Reader in New Testament Studies and Fellow, Fitzwilliam College, University of Cambridge

Roughly a quarter of a century after his groundbreaking monograph Echoes of Scripture in the Letters of Paul, Richard Hays stimulates the ongoing discussion of intertextuality in New Testament writings with an impressive analysis of Scriptures polyphonic resonance in the four canonical stories of Jesus and how these intertextual semantic effects contribute substantially to the meaning and rhetorical cogency of the narratives. Richard Hays ability to survey broad fields of knowledge and to synthesize complex textual phenomena makes Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels essential reading for everyone who is interested in the relevance of Scripture for understanding New Testament texts.

Matthias Konradt, Lehrstuhl fr Neutestamentliche Theologie, Theologische Fakultt, Universitt Heidelberg

Every time Richard Hays has written a major book, he has opened our eyes to previously unimagined possibilities. This new book will do that too, only this time the view is an even more breathtaking invitation to fresh exegesis and theology. Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels challenges us to think differently about the way we read each of the four gospelsand therefore, by implication, about the traditions and early communities that stand behind them, and ultimately the elusive but powerful figure of the master exegete whose scripture-laden story these documents are telling.

N. T. Wright, Research Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity, University of St Andrews

In this stimulating volume, Hays aims at a conversion of our imagination. By thoroughly discussing how the four Gospels adopt Scripture and create their stories of Jesus by use of numerous Scriptural echoes, Hays lays the foundations for a biblical theology of the Four Gospels.

Jrg Frey, Chair of New Testament Studies, University of Zrich

Richard Hays Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels allows us to hear a rich chorus of voices in Scripture long silent. Like his Echoes in the Letters of Paul, Hays has performed nothing less than a Copernican revolution in turning the whole discipline of literary parallels and influences upon an author inside out: instead of New Testament authors like Mark or Matthew reaching back to pluck some citation to fit their need in presenting the gospel, Hays demonstrates that it was Scripture itself pressing and prodding and pushing its way into the formative thoughts and sermons and teachings about Jesus. Instead of a monotone word of the Evangelists redaction, now suddenly a mixed chorale of melodies, a heavenly polyphony of scriptural songs burst through brightly, brilliantly to illuminate the good news of Gods reign. In Hays Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels, God is anything but silent.

David P. Moessner, A. A. Bradford Chair and Professor of Religion, Texas Christian University

A masterful achievement by a great scholar at the peak of his powers, Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels is a book that I expect to be revisiting for the rest of my life. Richard Hays traces with both depth and clarity the diverse uses the Evangelists make of the Hebrew Scriptures. His conclusion draws its title from the Emmaus Road story: Did not our hearts burn within us? Indeed they did, and do.

Alan Jacobs, Distinguished Professor of Humanities in the Honors Program, Baylor University

Richard B. Hays

BAYLOR UNIVERSITY PRESS

2016 by Baylor University Press

Waco, Texas 76798

All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission in writing of Baylor University Press.

If a Scripture quotation deviates from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, 1989, it is the authors modification.

Cover design by Hannah Feldmeier

Cover art by Hannah Feldmeier, based on a photograph of the Four Evangelists scene within the Lamentation Window, Cologne Cathedral, Cologne, Germany. Photograph courtesy of Father Dave Dwyer.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Hays, Richard B., author.

Title: Echoes of scripture in the gospels / Richard B. Hays.

Description: Waco : Baylor University Press, 2016. | Includes .

Identifiers: LCCN 2015041443 | ISBN 9781481304917 (hardback : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781481305129 (ePub) | ISBN 9781481305136 (mobi) | ISBN 9781481305143 (web pdf)

Subjects: LCSH: Bible. GospelsCriticism, interpretation, etc. | Bible. GospelsRelation to the Old Testament. | Bible. Old TestamentRelation to the Gospels.

Classification: LCC BS2555.52 .H385 2016 | DDC 226/.066dc23

LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015041443

For Judy, my true companion.

This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Psalm 118:24

Figural Interpretation of Israels Scripture

THE EVANGELISTS AS READERS OF ISRAELS SCRIPTURE

1
The Gospel of Mark
Herald of Mystery

Mark as Interpreter of Scripture

Israels Story in Marks Narrative

The Churchs Suffering in Marks Narrative

Marks Scriptural Hermeneutics

2
The Gospel of Matthew
Torah Transfigured