Dialogue Not Dogma Many Voices in the Gospel of Luke

by Nadella, Raj

• ISBN13: 9780567145437
• ISBN10: 0567145433
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-05-26
• Publisher: Bloomsbury T & T Clark

Summary

Lukan scholars offer varying responses to the issue of divergent viewpoints in the gospel regarding the identity of Jesus, wealth, women, and the emphasis on doing vis-à-vis hearing. Many forms of criticism attempt to explain or harmonize these apparent contradictions. Conversely, Raj Nadella argues that there is no dominant viewpoint in Luke and that the divergence in viewpoints is a unique literary feature to be celebrated rather than a problem to be solved. Nadella interprets selected Lukan passages in light of Bakhtinian concepts such as dialogism, loophole, and exotopy to show that the disparate perspectives, and interplay between them, display Luke's superior literary skills rather than his inability to produce a coherent work. Luke emerges as a work akin to Dostoevsky's Brothers Karamazov that accommodates competing views on several issues and allows them to enter into an unfinalizable dialogue as equal partners.

Table of Contents

Preface/Acknowledgements/Abbreviations/Introduction/Chapter1 Reading Luke in Light of Bakhtin: Theory, Possibilities, Limitations, Scope of the Study/Chapter 2 Blessed Are the Outsiders: Viewing Luke's Polyphonic Story of Jesus' Identity from a Distance/Chapter 3 To Each Its Own Loophole: Loophole Dialogues and the Tension between Hearing and Doing/Chapter 4 Downsizing the Wealthy? A Carnivalesque Reading of Luke's Portrayal of Wealth/Chapter 5Contributions of this Study to Lukan Scholarship and the Ethical Implications of a Dialogic Reading of Luke/Bibliography/Index of References/Index of Authors