Identity Formation and the Gospel of Matthew

Why does the author of the Gospel of Matthew include non-Judean characters in his narrative? Tekalign Duguma Negewo attempts to answer this question based on the assumption that Matthew's Gospel played an identity-forming role for its community. As a heuristic interpretive tool, he uses the socio-narrative reading method, which merges socio-scientific criticism, narrative criticism, and semiological reading through social identity, narrative, and semiotic theories. Tekalign Duguma Negewo argues that the implied author used the non-Judean characters to form the identity of the ideal readers' community.