Jude
Southwestern Journal of Theology
Volume 58, No. 1 – Fall 2015
Managing Editor: W. Madison Grace II
By John A. Szukalski. Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2013. xii + 170 pages. Paperback, $21.00.
Since Jülicher’s Die Gleichnisreden Jesu (Freiburg: J. C. B. Mohr, 1886) a plethora of methodologies have been proffered in interpreting the parables of Jesus. At the forefront of this discussion is Luke 16:19–31, and in his concise work Tormented in Hades, Szukalski posits an innovative way forward in the debate with his synthetic approach of “socio-narratological” criticism (36–38). Szukalski’s approach is synthetic and “interdisciplinary” in that it “integrates the insights from both literary and cultural analyses of biblical narratives” (36), and is adapted from Gowler’s 1991 study Host, Guest, Enemy and Friend (New York: P. Lang, 1991). Szukalski’s work is a “lightly revised version” of his doctoral dissertation at the Catholic University of America under the direction of Frank J. Matera (x).
In his preface, Szukalski conspicuously lists his thesis, problem question, and warrants. Szukalski states his thesis thusly:
The parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19–31 is one of seven φιλάργυροι or “money-lover” parables in the Lucan Travel Narrative that evinces a rhetorical strategy of persuading the rich to repentance by utilizing parabolic dynamics that move the reader away from an established vision of reality that is exclusive and elitist toward an alternate vision of reality that is inclusive, egalitarian, and associated with Jesus’ preaching of the kingdom of God (ix–x).
Szukalski’s frames his problem question in rhetorical fashion:
The problem is that the parable seems to condemn the rich man to torments in Hades for no other apparent reason than his wealth and to reward poor Lazarus with bliss at Abraham’s side for no other apparent reason than his poverty. Such an amoral and mechanical criterion of judgment cannot be the criterion utilized by the personal and loving God of Jesus Christ as presented to us in the Gospels, can it (ix)?
Both of Szukalski’s warrants are centered on the utilization of Gowler’s socionarratological approach to determine “the concrete actions rich Christians must perform to demonstrate true repentance and discipleship” (x). Structurally, Tormented in Hades consists of five chapters, a bibliography and index of Scripture citations.
Szukalski begins chapter 1 by investigating the Forschungsgeschichte (i.e., “history of research”) of Luke 16:19–31 since Jülicher. He notes three main approaches: the search for a parallel; application of literary criticism; and social-science criticism (4). Seminal for Szukalski’s study is Gowler’s socio-narratological approach, he states, “Heretofore, there has been no comprehensive and exclusive treatment of the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus utilizing the interdisciplinary socionarratological approach” (38). Szukalski seeks to fill this lacuna.
In chapter 2, Szukalski explores the Lukan Travel Narrative and argues for five parabolic “affinities” (40–41) between Luke 16:19–31—the penultimate of the seven φιλάργυροι parables—and the other six Lukan pericopes (i.e., Luke 10:30– 35; 12:16–20; 14:16–24; 15:11–32; 16:1–8; 18:10–14). Bedrock for Szukalski’s argumentation is Luke’s supposed rhetorical strategy in arguing “for the necessity of repentance among the rich” (40). Szukalski finishes this chapter with an original translation of Luke 16:19–31, highlighting his threefold structure of orientation (vv. 19–21), disorientation (vv. 22–23), and reorientation (vv. 24–31), as well as a textcritical analysis.
Chapters 3 and 4 evince Szukalski’s socio-narratological analyses for the socalled seven Lukan φιλάργυροι parables, as well as selected works from Lucian of Samosata. Szukalski summarizes Gowler’s socio-narratological methodology as “a method composed of two movements: character analysis and analysis of operative cultural scripts—culturally conditioned patterns of perceiving and behaving” (74).
Szukalski concludes in chapter 5 by describing how Luke’s supposed rhetorical strategy in the seven φιλάργυροι parables functions in “persuading the rich to repent.” Szukalski also explains the concept of “negative reciprocity” (extraction from the poor without reciprocation), and feels that the rich man in Luke 16:19–31 was condemned for his habitual praxis of negative reciprocity towards Lazarus. Negative reciprocity stands in contradistinction to the “proper use of wealth,” and “proper social relations in Christian discipleship” (156–57).
Tormented in Hades is well-organized and offers a comprehensive survey of contemporary trajectories in parables scholarship. Szukalski’s interdisciplinary approach elucidates several keen insights into Luke’s Sitz im Leben that are beneficial in understanding the Gospel of Luke (generally) and Luke 16:19–31 (specifically). Perhaps, the primary weakness is that Szukalski’s thesis remains unconvincing. Szukalski does not prove his unique, tripartite structure to Luke 16:19–31 effectively nor his concept of a special Lukan set of φιλάργυροι parables—especially since the term, φιλάργυροι, never actually appears in any of these seven parables (appearing only in Luke’s Gospel in 16:14), and Szukalski’s argument seems forced in linking 16:14–18 as an extended “prologue” to 16:19–31 (120–21). It seems that Szukalski is too dependent on Green (Gospel of Luke, New International Commentary on the New Testament [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997]) for his structural analysis (see e.g., 124–27).
In sum, Tormented in Hades evinces the complexity in contemporary approaches to the parables of Jesus and is a must-have for any serious student of Lukan parables. While this work has definite weaknesses, the survey of scholarship in chapter 1 is worth the price of this book.
