Matthew, poet of the Beatitudes

"In this treatment, Green argues that the Beatitudes in Matthew's version are a carefully constructed poem. It exhibits several characteristics of Hebrew poetry as we know it from the Old Testament; but what we have here is an original composition in Greek." "These characteristics are no isolated phenomenon in the gospel. A series of texts found at specially significant points in Matthew's gospel share the same features." "The findings of this book cut across conventional source attributions and reveal the creative hand of the evangelist. By studying the individual beatitudes not in isolation but in their relation to each other as revealed by the formal structure, Green throws fresh light on their meaning and their background in the scriptures of the Old Testament."--BOOK JACKET.