Argumentation Mar 2011 Open Access

The Gospel of Matthew as a Literary Argument

Mika Hietanen University of Amsterdam

Abstract

Through an argumentation analysis can one show how it is feasible to view a narrative religious text such as the Gospel of Matthew as a literary argument. The Gospel is not just “good news” but an elaborate argument for the standpoint that Jesus is the Son of God, the Messiah. It is shown why an argumentation analysis needs to be supplemented with a pragmatic literary analysis in order to describe how the evangelist presents his story so as to reach his argumentative objective. The analysis also shows why in the case of historical religious literary texts, certain demands are put on the analyst that are not normally present.

Journal
Argumentation
Published
2011-03-01
DOI
10.1007/s10503-010-9198-z
CompPile
Open Access
OA PDF Hybrid
Topics
argument literary studies
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References (29)

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