“What’s in a Name?”

A Study on the Matthean Genealogy (Mt 1:1-17) Part Two

Abstract

Inspired by the rhetorical study of William Subash on the dreams in Matthew 1–2 and Ansgar Wucherpfennig’s article on the Matthean genealogy, the author launches a new approach to the Matthean genealogy by studying the names therein. The study investigates the reason why Matthew selected these names and seeks to determine their function in the infancy narrative and in the Gospel. It is divided into two parts: I Part: 1) Matthew’s sources, 2) etymology of names, 3) the structure of the three parts of the genealogy, 4) additions in the genealogy. II Part: 5) the women in the genealogy, 6) changed and inserted names, 7) symbolic reading.