The afterlife imagery in Luke's story of the rich man and Lazarus / by Outi Lehtipuu.

• Superior document: Supplements to Novum Testamentum, v. 123
• Author: Lehtipuu, Outi.
• Year of Publication: 2007
• Language: English
• Series: Supplements to Novum Testamentum ; v. 123.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (375 pages)
• Notes: Revision of the author's thesis (doctoral)--University of Helsinki, 2004.

Despite the keen scholarly interest in the Gospel parables, the afterlife scenery in the story of the rich man and Lazarus has often been overlooked. Using insights from the orality studies and intertextuality, the author places the Lukan description of the fate of the dead into the larger Hellenistic matrix, provided by a large number of Greco-Roman and Jewish sources, both literary and epigraphic. Moreover, she challenges several conventional stances in Lukan studies, such as tracing the original of the story to Egypt, or maintaining that eschatology is a key for understanding Luke’s work and the purpose for writing it, or harmonizing Luke’s eschatological thinking by positing an intermediate state between death and general resurrection. Thus, the book offers fresh insights both to the way the fate of the dead was understood in the ancient world and to the concept of Lukan eschatology.

Table of Contents

Part I: Introduction -- Problem -- Previous research and its evaluation -- Purpose of this study -- Part II: Dividing the dead: the Hellenistic matrix -- Preliminary remarks: from fixed parallels to intertextuality -- Differentiated fates in Greco-Roman sources -- Differentiated fates: only an elite view? -- Differentiated fates in Jewish sources -- Summary of part two -- Part III: Luke's description of the hereafter in context -- Preliminary remarks: the function of the afterlife scene -- Structural themes of the story -- Details of the description -- Summary of part three -- Part IV: Afterlife imagery in Luke-Acts -- Preliminary remarks: a consistent eschatological scheme? -- Rich man and Lazarus and Luke's eschatology -- Fate of the individual after death -- Summary of part four -- Conclusions.