Prodigality, Liberality and Meanness: The Prodigal Son in Graeco-Roman Perspective

by David Holgate, Chris Keith (Editor)

Overview

This monograph interprets the parable of the Prodigal Son (Lk. 15.11-32) in the light of Graeco-Roman popular moral philosophy. Luke's special parables are rarely studied in this way, but the results of this study are very fruitful. The unity of the parable is supported, and it is shown to be deeply concerned with a major Lukan theme: the right use of possessions. The whole parable is read in terms of the moral topos 'on covetousness', and shown to be an endorsement of the Graeco-Roman virtue of liberality, modified by the Christian virtue of compassion.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781841270258
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	08/01/1999
Series:	The Library of New Testament Studies
Pages:	299
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.81(d)

About the Author

David Holgate is Dean of Studies of the Southern Theological Education and Training Scheme, Salisbury, Wiltshire.

Chris Keith is Research Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society, Norway. He is the author of The Pericope Adulterae, the Gospel of John and the Literacy of Jesus, a winner of the 2010 John Templeton Award for Theological Promise, and Jesus' Literacy: Scribal Culture and the Teacher from Galilee. He is also the co-editor of Jesus among Friends and Enemies: A Historical and Literary Introduction to Jesus in the Gospels, and was recently named a 2012 Society of Biblical Literature Regional Scholar.