It is a real joy to have Lloyd Pietersen with us once again. This time he will be speaking at the Humanities Research Group Seminar Series for the Newman Humanities Research Centre. Those of you who have heard Lloyd speak will know that this will be a stimulating, engaging and thought-provoking paper.

Does the Matthean Jesus Really Love His Enemies?

Dr Lloyd Pietersen

Thursday 30 March 2017

Newman University

Room DW112
17.00 – 18.00

“The Sermon on the Mount has rightly been regarded as a key text for Christians and, in particular, Anabaptists. In Matthew 5:44 Jesus exhorts his disciples to love their enemies and pray for those who persecute them. But does the Matthean Jesus put into practice what he preaches? Does he really love his enemies? In this paper I will examine Jesus’ responses to opponents in Matthew and read them in the light of Matthew 5:44. In particular, I wish to examine Luz’s claim that “there is a fundamental contradiction between Jesus’ command to love one’s enemies and what happens in the woes with the scribes and Pharisees.” (Ulrich Luz, Matthew 21-28: A Commentary [Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg, 2005], 138.) I will argue that confrontation and condemnation, in particular circumstances, are precisely the ways in which the Matthean Jesus practices enemy love.”

Lloyd Pietersen is Visiting Research Fellow in Biblical Studies at Newman University.