Abraham, Wealth and Social Identity in Luke 16.19-31
Abstract
This paper attempts to show Abraham as a social identity marker in Luke 16:19–31 (the parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man). The paper will use elements of social identity theory to analyse how Abraham functions as a social identity marker in this parable. After an introduction to elements of Social Identity Theory (SIT) that are relevant to the discussion, the paper will analyse how they relate to the characters in the pericope. Significantly, the paper will examine how a character might be expected to function in relation to Abraham as an exemplar, and will analyse how the characters in the parable have acted with reference to Abraham being an exemplar for the social group “Children of Abraham”. A further theme of wealth disparity is put on display vividly in this parable, so the paper will also deal with how wealth and wealth inequality affect one’s social identity with reference to the group “Children of Abraham”. The paper will end with a summary that ties all these ideas together.Downloads
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.
This is an open access journal, and the authors and journal should be properly acknowledged, when works are cited.
Authors may use the publishers version for teaching purposes, in books, theses, dissertations, conferences and conference papers.
A copy of the authors’ publishers version may also be hosted on the following websites:
- Non-commercial personal webpage or blog.
- Institutional webpage.
- Authors Institutional Repository.
The following notice should accompany such a posting on the website: “This is an electronic version of an article published in Scriptura, Volume XXX, number XXX, pages XXX–XXX”, DOI. Authors should also supply a hyperlink to the original paper or indicate where the original paper (http://scriptura.journals.ac.za/pub) may be found.
Authors publishers version, affiliated with the Stellenbosch University will be automatically deposited in the University’s’ Institutional Repository SUNScholar.
Articles as a whole, may not be re-published with another journal.
The following license applies:
