The Sermon on the Mount

This book focuses on the Sermon on the Mount as the locus classicus of the teachings of Jesus. It argues that the Sermon is an expression of the divine perfection in which it is grounded. The center of the book is the injunction contained at the center of the sermon itself—“Be perfect as your father in heaven is perfect.”

Perfection of this kind is a human response to a divne gift. Consequently, all the Beatitudes and obedience to all the ethical prescriptions in the sermon should be understood as expressions of divine perfection and as finite reflections of God’s own work in the world. The Sermon on the Mount requires a transformation of the spirit before its message can become intelligible.