The Politics of Race and Ethnicity in Matthew's Passion Narrative

1. Introduction.- 2.  Identifying the Dominant Narrative: Non-ethnoracial Readings of Matthew 26-27.- 3.  Situating the Dominant Narrative: Deracialized Readers and Reading Locations.- 4. Constructing a Minoritized Approach: Racialized Readers and Reading Locations.- 5. Proposing an Alternative Narrative: An Ethnoracial Reading of Matthew 26-27 .- 6. Conclusion.

Wongi Park is a Fellow at Belmont University, USA.

"The book successfully demonstrates, through the focussed analysis of a singular example, how the broader construction of non-ethonoracial readings of Jesus more generally perpetuate deracializing logics that drive the dominant discourse of a universal Christianity transcending ethonoracial particularity. In doing so, the book elucidates some of the severe limitations of the guild of biblical studies, but also the wider implications for exegesis." (Robert J. Myles, The Bible and Critical Theory, bibleandcriticaltheory.com, Vol. 17 (1), 2021)


"Park has presented a powerful and destabilizing reading of a story whose interpretation is seen to be dominated by a narrative shaped through an ideology of 'white invisibility'. ... It would be fascinating to see Park apply his reading strategy to other parts of the Gospel of Matthew, both those that foreground marginalization and those which seem to speak of universal hope and inclusion." (Paul Foster, The Expository Times, Vol. 131 (11), 2020)

"This is a valuable and provocative study, informed by current race theory, which effectively challenges the lack of attention to the ethnoracial dimensions of the labelling of Jesus in previous scholarship. ... The book will clearly be of value to those interested in issues of ethnicity and race in biblical interpretation, but in view of the challenges it raises one hopes that it will also find a broader readership." (David G. Horrell, Journal for the Study of the New Testament, Vol. 42 (5), 2020)