Massacre of the Innocents

In The Massacre of the Innocents: Studies in the Cultural Afterlife of a Gospel Scene, Warren Carter examines some fifty instances of the interpretation of the Matthean “Massacre of the Innocents” (Matt 2:16-18). He emphasizes the agency of interpreters, who in their particular contexts and media, “think with” the shocking Matthean scene to address the often-tragic circumstances of their audiences. He argues throughout that the structure of the Gospel scene facilitates this “thinking with.” The scene is structured as a triad of power relations with a tyrant (Herod), victims (infants and parents), and violent means of tyranny (the massacre). Interpreters use this triad of power relations to identify tyrant/s, victims, and means of tyranny in their own situations. Carter illustrates the use of this triad of power relations across two millennia, in numerous socio-political contexts, and media as diverse as sermons, images, poems and hymns, dramas and festivals, films, novels, Christmas carols, and Children’s Bibles.

With typical thoroughness, Warren Carter has written on one of the most riveting episodes in Matthew's Gospel: King Herod sending soldiers to massacre young children in Bethlehem. This scene, as evidenced by a wide range of examples, has attracted the attention of theologians, artists, poets, playwrights, and musicians for centuries - as people in varying times and places wrestle with the enduring dynamic of tyrant, victims, and acts of unjust violence that Matthew's narrative portrays. Carter's approach reframes the concept of reception history from a static view in which the Biblical text "acts" on an audience to one in which readers "think with" the scene from a variety of perspectives. This stance is welcome, insofar as it opens space for diverse readers to read, respond to, and engage the Gospel story in their own ways - including the possibility of continuing to use Matthew's narrative to address injustice and acts of violence in the world as so many have before.--John Christianson, Morningside University, Carter's dive into the afterlives of Matthew's Massacre of the Innocents is a game-changer for the field of reception history. His careful attention to the event of meaning-making, his willingness to name and call-out numerous contexts of oppression, and his ability to write clearly and effectively make this a superb text for theological education. From ancient manuscripts to modern headlines, from indigenous art to children's bibles, Carter's work not only examines the way people throughout history have "thought with" this text, it also beckons readers to reflect on the ways they too have "thought with" Matthew.--Anna M. V. Bowden, Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary

Warren Carter is the LaDonna Kramer Meinders Professor of New Testament at Phillips Seminary in Tulsa, Oklahoma.