Abstract:
Although historical criticism has briefly analyzed the Matthean phrase “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matt 8:12; 13:42, 50; 22:13; 24: 51; 25:30) using different methodological approaches, a comprehensive and exclusive study of the phrase has not yet been carried out. However, while it is still possible to find historical critical studies analyzing the expression, one cannot say the same about narrative criticism. Moreover, despite the fact that there are tangential narrative comments dealing with the phrase in some literary studies, a study dealing exclusively with the phrase from a narrative critical methodology has not yet been undertaken. In view of this, the intention of my investigation is to examine the six phrases “weeping and gnashing of teeth” that appear in the Gospel of Matthew using a narrative critical approach, with the purpose of understanding its literary meaning. This analysis examines the integration of every occurrence of the phrase in its own narrative context as well as ascertains whether there are narrative connections between these pericopes and the Gospel of Matthew as a whole. My purpose, however, is not theological. Rather, it is to explore how narrative criticism works and which conclusions are possible to obtain using it. This means that I am not seeking a “theological meaning” of the phrase, but only to see if it is possible to find narrative connections between the passages where the phrase is located.
