Despite the keen scholarly interest in the Gospel parables, the afterlife scenery in the story of the rich man and Lazarus has often been overlooked. Using insights from the orality studies and intertextuality, the author places the Lukan description of the fate of the dead into the larger Hellenistic matrix, provided by a large number of Greco-Roman and Jewish sources, both literary and epigraphic. Moreover, she challenges several conventional stances in Lukan studies, such as tracing the original of the story to Egypt, or maintaining that eschatology is a key for understanding Luke's work...

This volume presents a batch of incisive new essays on the relationship between Roman imperial power and ideology and Christian and Jewish life and thought within the empire. Employing diverse methodologies that include historical criticism, rhetorical criticism, postcolonial criticism, and social historical studies, the contributors offer fresh perspectives on a question that is crucial for our understanding not only of the late Roman Empire, but also of the growth and change of Christianity and Judaism in the imperial period.

In Debates over the Resurrection of the Dead, Outi Lehtipuu highlights the striking observation that in many early texts the way that belief in resurrection is formulated is used as a sign of inclusion and exclusion, not only in relation to non-Christians but vis-a-vis other Christians. Those who teach otherwise have deviated from the truth, are not true Christians, and do the works of the devil. Using insights from the sociological study of deviance, Dr Lehtipuu demonstrates that labelling was used as a tool for marking boundaries between those who belonged and those who did not....