The Afterlife Imagery in Luke's Story of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Supplements to Novum Testamentum)

376 Pages·2007·1.39 MB·English

by  Lehtipuu

The Afterlife Imagery in Luke’s Story
of the Rich Man and Lazarus
Supplements
to
Novum Testamentum
Executive Editors
M.M. Mitchell
Chicago
D.P. Moessner
Dubuque
Editorial Board
c.k. barrett, durham ‒ p. borgen, trondheim
j.k. elliott, leeds ‒ c.r. holladay, atlanta
h.w. hollander, leiden ‒ h.j. de jonge, leiden
a.j. malherbe, new haven ‒ m.j.j. menken, utrecht
j. smit sibinga, amsterdam
VOLUME 123
The Afterlife Imagery
in Luke’s Story of the
Rich Man and Lazarus
by
Outi Lehtipuu
LEIDEN • BOSTON
2007
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lehtipuu, Outi.
The afterlife imagery in Luke’s story of the rich man and Lazarus / by Outi
Lehtipuu.
p. cm. — (Supplements to Novum Testamentum, ISSN 0167-9732; v. 123)
Revision of the author’s thesis (doctoral)—University of Helsinki, 2004.
Includes bibliographical references (p. and index).
ISBN-13: 978-90-04-15301-1
ISBN-10: 90-04-15301-2 (hardback : alk. paper)
1. Bible. N.T. Luke XVI, 19–31—Criticism, interpretation, etc. 2. Rich man
and Lazarus (Parable)—Criticism, interpretation, etc. 3. Future life—Biblical
teaching. I. Title.
BT378.D5L44 2007
226.8’06—dc22
2006049211
ISSN 0167-9732
ISBN-13: 978 90 04 15301 1
ISBN-10: 90 04 15301 2
© Copyright 2007 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing,
IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated,
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printed in the netherlands
For my children

CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ........................................................................ xi
Note on Translations .................................................................. xiii
PART I
INTRODUCTION
Chapter 1: The Problem .......................................................... 3
Chapter 2: Previous Research and Its Evaluation .................. 11
2.1. The Legacy of Jülicher and Gressmann ...................... 11
2.2. The Key Issues in More Recent Research .................. 18
A Story Composed of Two Parts? ................................ 19
An Original Teaching of Jesus? .................................... 22
A Derivative of a Demotic Folktale? ............................ 29
Chapter 3: The Purpose of This Study .................................. 39
PART II
DIVIDING THE DEAD: THE HELLENISTIC MATRIX
Chapter 4: Preliminary Remarks: From Fixed Parallels
to Intertextuality .................................................................... 45
Chapter 5: Differentiated Fates in Greco-Roman Sources .... 55
5.1. Death in the Homeric Epics ........................................ 57
5.2. Towards an Individual Treatment of the Dead .......... 62
Rewards and Punishments after Death ........................ 66
The Question of “Orphic Influence” .......................... 75
5.3. Concepts of Afterlife in Hellenistic and Roman
Times .............................................................................. 81
viii contents
Philosophical Treatments of the Fate of the Soul .... 83
The Immortal Soul in Cicero, Pseudo-Plato, and
Plutarch ...................................................................... 87
Chapter 6: Differentiated Fates: Only an Elite View? .......... 99
6.1. The Ambiguity of the Epigraphic Sources ................ 102
6.2. Popular Views Reflected in Literary Sources ............ 108
Chapter 7: Differentiated Fates in Jewish Sources .................. 119
7.1. The Fate of the Dead in the Hebrew Bible ............ 120
7.2. Apocalyptic Eschatology and Personal Afterlife ........ 125
1 Enoch 22 .................................................................. 129
Other Apocalypses ........................................................ 138
Other Accounts of Differentiated Fates ...................... 144
7.3. Divergent Beliefs within First Century Judaism ........ 148
Chapter 8: Summary of Part Two .......................................... 156
PART III
LUKE’S DESCRIPTION OF THE
HEREAFTER IN CONTEXT
Chapter 9: Preliminary Remarks: The Function of the
Afterlife Scene ........................................................................ 163
Chapter 10: The Structural Themes of the Story .................. 171
10.1. Reversal of Fates after Death ...................................... 171
Lucian: Death as the Great Equalizer ...................... 173
Epistle of Enoch: Struggle between the Righteous
and Sinners .............................................................. 175
The Finality of the Reversal ...................................... 183
10.2. Message from the World of the Dead ...................... 186
Chapter 11: Details of the Description .................................... 197
11.1. Angels Escorting the Dead .......................................... 198
11.2. Abraham in the Hereafter .......................................... 206
11.3. Torment of the Rich Man, Consolation of
Lazarus .......................................................................... 212
contents ix
11.4. The Separating Chasm ................................................ 221
11.5. Bodily Existence ............................................................ 223
Chapter 12: Summary of Part Three ...................................... 231
PART IV
AFTERLIFE IMAGERY IN LUKE-ACTS
Chapter 13: Preliminary Remarks: A Consistent
Eschatological Scheme? .......................................................... 237
Chapter 14: The Rich Man and Lazarus and Luke’s
Eschatology .............................................................................. 243
14.1. Jesus’ Role in the Eschatological Salvation ................ 243
14.2. Eschatology—Future or Present, Collective or
Individual ...................................................................... 250
Resurrection—When and for Whom? ........................ 256
Chapter 15: The Fate of the Individual after Death ............ 265
15.1. Hades—Interim Abode or Final Destiny? .................. 265
Hades and Gehenna .................................................... 271
15.2. The Good Lot of the Righteous ................................ 276
Paradise .......................................................................... 277
Eternal Habitations ...................................................... 284
Kingdom of God, Eternal Life, Heaven .................... 289
Chapter 16: Summary of Part Four ........................................ 295
Conclusions .................................................................................. 299
Bibliography ................................................................................ 305
A. Texts, Translations, and Reference Works .................... 305
B. Secondary Literature ........................................................ 309
Index of Passages ........................................................................ 331
General Index ............................................................................ 353