Doing Torah, Imitating Yahweh: A Reconsideration of the Good Samaritan Story

Scholars often puzzle over why the discussion about Torah obedience in Luke 10:25–29 does not appear to fit coherently with the story of the Good Samaritan that follows it (10:30–37). Was this an oversight on Luke’s part, a lack of editorial finesse, or did he have other aims? In this paper, I will...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Wendel, Susan J. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Sage 2021
In: The expository times
Year: 2021, Volume: 133, Issue: 3, Pages: 105-116
Further subjects:B Good Samaritan
B Neighbour
B Imitatio Dei
B Gospel of Luke
B Torah
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:Scholars often puzzle over why the discussion about Torah obedience in Luke 10:25–29 does not appear to fit coherently with the story of the Good Samaritan that follows it (10:30–37). Was this an oversight on Luke’s part, a lack of editorial finesse, or did he have other aims? In this paper, I will argue that the apparent shift in logic, marked by the transformation of the lawyer’s question from ‘Who is my neighbour?’ (10:29) to ‘Who acts as a neighbour?’ (10:36), invites the lawyer to realign his interpretation of Lev 19:18 with the theology of imitatio Dei already present in Leviticus 19: The one who properly fulfills Lev 19:18 does so by imitating Yahweh. Within the context of Luke’s Gospel, moreover, Luke 10:25–37 illustrates how Luke both affirms and expands the terms of Torah obedience such that proper fulfilment of the Mosaic Law requires a disclosure of and participation in the very nature of God.
ISSN:1745-5308
Contains:Enthalten in: The expository times
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1177/00145246211038815