DIE GELYKENIS VAN DIE VERLORE SEUN: EERSTE-EEUSE EKONOMIE EN DIE HOORDERS VAN JESUS
Abstract
Jesus preached the kingdom of God, with the principle of general reciprocity as a cardinal aspect. For Jesus, this kingdom was an alternative social world to the oppressive and exploitative social system of the Greco-Roman world. This article seeks to analyse the parable of the Lost Son (Luke 15:11-32), focusing on Luke 15:11-13, against the socio-economic background of first century Palestine. Special attention is given to the youngest son's decision to leave the house and his possible motive for doing so. The view is that texts are the products of the specific social systems in which they originated, and therefore the social scientific approach is used to analyse this text. The conclusion reached is that the political and tax systems of the Greco-Roman world were extremely exploitative, while the kingdom of God, as an alternative social order, advocated the principle of general reciprocity and the sharing of resources. Jesus het die koninkryk van God verkondig, met die beginsel van algemene wederkerigheid as ʼn kardinale aspek daarvan. Vir Jesus was dié koninkryk ʼn alternatiewe sosiale wêreld teenoor en die onderdrukkende en uitbuitende sosiale stelsel van die Grieks-Romeinse wêreld. Hierdie artikel poog om die gelykenis van die Verlore Seun (Lukas 15:11-32), met as fokus Lukas 15:11-13, te analiseer teen die sosio-ekonomiese agtergrond van Palestina in die eerste eeu. Spesiale aandag word gegee aan die jongste seun se besluit om die huis te verlaat en moontlike motief daaragter. Daar word van die standpunt uitgegaan dat tekste die produkte is van die spesifieke sosiale stelsels waarin hulle ontstaan het, en daarom word die sosiaal-wetenskaplike benadering gebruik om dié teks te analiseer. Die konklusie waartoe gekom word, is dat die politieke- en belastingstelsel van die Grieks-Romeinse wêreld uiters uitbuitend was, terwyl die koninkryk van God, as alternatiewe sosiale orde, die beginsel van algemene wederkerigheid en die deel van hulpbronne voorgestaan het.Authors retain copyright and grant the Journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this Journal.
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