InterviewBlog | In conversation with Elaine Storkey
In conversation with Elaine Storkey
Author: Andy PeckPost Date: 24.06.23
Dr Elaine Storkey is a widely respected theologian, philosopher, sociologist, and author of several books including, most recently, Meeting God in Matthew and Women in a Patriarchal World. Elaine was also the president of Tearfund and remains deeply committed to combating poverty and gender inequalities.
cy Could we talk about your theology at the time you started writing Meeting God in Matthew?
es I’ve been a Christian for many years and I’ve always read and loved the Bible. I think the biblical text speaks so much to every age wherever we are in history, and it speaks clearly and loudly to us today. I wanted to honour that, but my surprise was when I got into Matthew, even though I’ve been reading it for so many years, so much came out freshly. It was as if I was reading Matthew for the first time. What I’ve done in the past is read large bits of Matthew, but not really seen the whole shape of the gospel. Matthew is a craftsman. He crafts the gospel very clearly, punctuating it, designing it, shaping it so it is very easy to understand who Jesus is and what he’s come for. My understanding improved and increased and I fell in love with the whole biblical text all over again.
Any fresh preaching insights?
es What struck me most was the genealogy. When you go to Matthew, you start with the genealogy of a very long list of people, and the names are unpronounceable. By the time you get to the end of the list, you want a stiff cup of coffee. Why start on such a boring note? But once you start to read Matthew, you realise that’s not boring for his original readers, that’s the most riveting thing. He’s positioning Jesus as the son of David, the son of Abraham and of course the Messiah. That’s what they need to hear most: Jesus’ credentials right through the history of Israel and how he is indeed the one they’ve all been longing for, foretold by the prophets. Once you realise that, the genealogy leaps out at you in a different way and then you ask, why these people? Because God chooses some very odd antecedents of Jesus: a bunch of crooks really, adulterers, people who sold their brothers into captivity and so on.
Why those people when he could have picked more noble, heroic and God-fearing people? I prayed about this and I think it was to show us that whatever our past, whatever our background, God speaks to us, blesses us and uses us. It’s a reassurance to anybody that you can walk away from the past, leave it behind with God and start again. So even though Jesus was absolutely holy, his antecedents were not.
cy You talk about some of the credentials of Matthew. How is it distinct from other gospels? es Matthew was writing for a Jewish audience, and so the credentials of Jesus are important. He brings these out constantly by going back to the prophets. The whole of Matthew’s gospel is punctuated by prophecy.
cy So prophecy is not just proof texting, there’s a deeper ‘bonus’ meaning. That’s a real challenge for preachers.
