Review

"Students and pastors will welcome this book! It begins with the frank admission that because much current study of the Bible attempts openly to explain what scriptural texts meant in ancient times, it strikes the reader as irrelevant for life and experience today. Throughout the centuries, however, biblical texts have generated new meanings in new situations. The upshot is that biblical texts have a 'history of effects,' and this history is part of our history. Written in a lively style, this book is not only stimulating and highly informative but it also grapples successfully with the knotty problem of what interpreting Scripture entails." --Jack Dean Kingsbury, Professor Emeritus of Biblical Theology, Union Theological Seminary in Virginia

About the Author

Ulrich Luz was born in 1938, and he studied theology in Zürich and Göttingen under Hans Conzelmann, Eduard Schweizer, and Gerhard Ebeling. He taught at the International Christian University in Tokyo (1970-1971) and at the University of Göttingen (1972-1980), and he is now Professor of New Testament Studies at the University of Bern in Switzerland. He received honorary degrees from the universities of Leipzig, Budapest, and Sibiu and served as president of the Societas Novi Testamenti Studiorum in 1998.

His published works in English are Jesus in Two Perspectives: A Jewish-Christian Dialog (with Pinchas Lapide; 1985), Matthew 1-7 (Continental Commentaries series, Fortress Press 1985), Matthew in History: Interpretation, Influence and Effects (1994), and The Theology of the Gospel of Matthew (1995).