Jesus' Parable of the Rich Fool: Luke 12:13-34 Among Ancient Conversations on Death and Possessions

Erscheinungsjahr 2011
ISBN: 978-90-04-21170-4
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 6, 300 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 235 mm

Reihe: Sbl - Early Christianity and I

Rindge reads Luke’s parable of the Rich Fool (12:16–21) as a sapiential narrative and situates this parable within a Second Temple intertextual conversation on the interplay of death and possessions. A rich analysis of Jewish (Qoheleth, Ben Sira, 1 Enoch, Testament of Abraham) and Greco-Roman (Lucian, Seneca) texts reveals a web of disparate perspectives regarding how possessions can be used meaningfully, given life’s fragility and death’s inevitability and uncertain timing. Departing from standard interpretations of Luke’s parable as a simple critique of avarice, Rindge explicates the multiple ways in which the parable and its immediate literary context (12:13–34) appropriate, reconfigure, and illustrate this contested conversation, and shows how these themes are chosen and adapted for Luke’s own existential, ethical, and theological concerns.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Fontein, Jan

Rindge, Matthew S.

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Bibelwissenschaften

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Introduction

1. Luke’s Parable of the Rich Fool (12:16–21): Interpreting Its History of Interpretation
The Early–Medieval Periods
Reformation
Nineteenth Century
Adolf Jülicher: A Turning Point in Scholarship?
“Modern” Readers
Reading the Parable with Greco-Roman Texts
Reading the Parable with (Jewish) Wisdom Texts
Georg Eichholz
Egbert Seng
Bernard Brandon Scott
Advancing a Conversation and Filling a Gap in Scholarship

2. The Interplay of Death and Possessions in Qoheleth and Ben Sira
The Interplay of Death and Possessions in Qoheleth
Qoheleth 2:1–26
Qoheleth 3:11–22
Qoheleth 5:9–6:2
Qoheleth 8:8–15
Qoheleth 9:1–10
Qoheleth 11:7–12:8
Conclusion to Qoheleth
Th e Interplay of Death and Possessions in Ben Sira
Death in Ben Sira
Possessions in Ben Sira
Ben Sira 11:14–28
Ben Sira 14:3–19
Conclusion to Ben Sira

3. Th e Interplay of Death and Possessions in 1 Enoch and the Testament of Abraham
The Interplay of Death and Possessions in the Epistle of 1 Enoch
Death and Divine Judgment
Participating in a Conversation on Death and Possessions
Conclusion to the Epistle of 1 Enoch 1
Th e Interplay of Death and Possessions in the Testament of Abraham
Death as the Primary Plot Device
Th e Inevitability of Death
Death, Wealth, and Possessions
Making a Will/Testament
Hospitality and Death
Conclusion to the Testament of Abraham
Conclusion to Chapters 2 and 3

4. The Interplay of Death and Possessions in Lucian and Seneca
Death and Possessions in Lucian’s Dialogues of the Dead
Th e Unavoidability, Irreversibility, and Universal Fear of Death
Death as a Reassessment of Possessions
Th e Instability of Inheritance and the Distribution of Possessions
Death and Possessions in Seneca’s Moral Epistles
Perceptions of Death
Wealth and Possessions
Th e Interplay of Death and Possessions
Pleasures, Luxury, and the Fear of Death
Ingratitude, Insatiability, and the Fear of Death
Luxury and the Living Dead
Lucian and Seneca

5. Luke 12:13-34: Participating in a Second Temple
Conversation on the Interplay of Death and Possessions
Possessions and the Inevitability and Uncertain Timing of Death
Death and Possessions in the Parable’s Broader Literary Context (Luke 12:4–34)
Sapiential Elements in Luke’s Parable
Appropriating and Reconfi guring Qoheleth and Ben Sira
Evaluating Sapiential Recommendations Regarding Possessions
Enjoyment
Inheritance
Generosity
Giving to God
Hospitality
Alms
Conclusion

6. The Rich Man’s Folly in Light of Sapiential Texts and the Parable’s Immediate Literary Context
The Critique and Analysis of Greed in 12:13–21
Alms as Divine Wealth in 12:20, 21b, 22–34
Th e Folly of Saving for the Future
Ignoring Death’s Inevitability, Uncertain Timing, and Potential Imminence

7. Luke 12:13–34: Reconfi guring Second Temple Conversations on Death and Possessions
Th e Dilemma of An Appropriately Acquired Surplus
God, Anxiety, and the (Illusory) Control of Life and Possessions (12:22–34)
Why the Man Is (and Is Not) Called a Fool

8. Comparing the Parable of the Rich Fool in Luke and Thomas
Conclusion: Illustrating Wisdom
Further Implications
Luke’s Parables as Sapiential Narratives
Parables and Character Formation
Bibliography
Index of Ancient Sources
Index of Modern Authors

Über Autor(innen)

Rindge, Matthew S.
Matthew S. Rindge is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Gonzaga University. He is co-author of the forthcoming The History of Biblical Interpretation to 1835: A Reader (Westminster John Knox) and the recipient of the 2011 Paul J. Achtemeier Award for New Testament Scholarship.