Date of Award
1-1-2019
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Organizational Unit
Joint Ph.D. Program in Study of Religion
First Advisor
Gregory A. Robbins, Ph.D.
Keywords
Early Christianity, Economics, Gospel of Luke, Poverty, Wealth
Abstract
Of the four canonical gospels of the New Testament, the one most concerned with poverty, wealth, and the ethics of possession is Luke. It contains more economic material and a sharper message than do Mark, Matthew, or John. A centuries-long debate rages over just how revolutionary Luke’s message is. This dissertation employs redactional, literary, statistical, historical, and theological methodologies to recover Luke’s radical economic message, to place it in its ancient context, and to tease out its prophetic implications for today. It argues that Luke has a radical message of good news for the poor and a call for resistance to wealth. God is shown to favor the poor, championing their struggle for justice while condemning the rich and recommending a sweeping disposal of wealth for the benefit of the poor. This represents a distinct break from the prevailing ethics of the ancient Roman Empire and a profound challenge to the economic systems of the modern world. Generations of interpreters have worked to file down the sharp edges of Luke’s message, from scribes copying ancient manuscripts, to authors from the first few centuries of the Christian movement, to contemporary biblical scholars. Such domestication disfigures the gospel, silencing its critique of an economic system whose unremitting drive for profit and economic growth continues to widen the gap between the rich and the poor while threatening life-altering, environmental change. It is time to reclaim the bracing, prophetic call of Luke’s economic message, a message that warns against the destructive power of wealth and insists on justice for the poor, the oppressed, and the marginalized.
Publication Statement
Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.
Rights Holder
David Dean Mimier King
Provenance
Received from ProQuest
File Format
application/pdf
Language
en
File Size
344 p.
Recommended Citation
King, David Dean Mimier, "Reclaiming the Radical Economic Message of Luke" (2019). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1590.
https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/1590
Statistics Spreadsheet
Copyright date
2019
Discipline
Biblical studies, Theology, History