Reading The Sermon On The Mount: Character Formation And Decision Making In Matthew 5-7

In Reading the Sermon on the Mount, Charles H. Talbert explores the religious message put forth in the first large teaching section of the Gospel according to Matthew and finds it to have a relevance often overlooked in academic studies. Seeking to hear and understand the text of Matthew 5-7 as someone living in the Mediterranean about 100 C.E. would have encountered it, Talbert argues for a broader interpretation of the Sermon than scholars typically advance. He suggests that the Sermon cannot be reduced to a discussion of ethics but includes considerations of piety. He contends that it is a text about covenant fidelity to God and to other humans, in which Jesus seeks to affect perceptions, dispositions, and intentions. The text thus functions primarily as a catalyst for character formation rather than as a compendium of obligations.