The Call to Perfection, financial Asceticism, and Jerome

The encounter between Jesus and the rich young man in Mt. 19,16-30 (with parallels in Mc. 10,17-31 and Lc. 18,18-30) provides the setting for the teaching on the attaining of perfection, which is presented as a three-step process: the selling of one’s possessions, the distribution of the proceeds to...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Dunn, Geoffrey D. 1962- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Interlibrary Loan:Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany)
Published: 2012
In: Augustinianum
Year: 2012, Volume: 52, Issue: 1, Pages: 197-218
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Parallel Edition:Non-electronic
Description
Summary:The encounter between Jesus and the rich young man in Mt. 19,16-30 (with parallels in Mc. 10,17-31 and Lc. 18,18-30) provides the setting for the teaching on the attaining of perfection, which is presented as a three-step process: the selling of one’s possessions, the distribution of the proceeds to the poor, and the following of Christ (Mt. 19,21; Mc. 10,21; Lc. 18,22; and the unique Lukan saying in 12,33). It was a passage to which Jerome appealed frequently in his writings and which Finn, in his recent monograph, believes demonstrates Jerome’s extreme views. In this paper I shall examine Jerome’s references to this biblical passage in his letters and treatises to evaluate whether the first two steps in the process (self-dispossession and almsgiving) were considered equally virtuous by Jerome.
ISSN:2162-6499
Contains:Enthalten in: Augustinianum
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.5840/agstm20125219