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the role of the lukan parables in terms of the purpose of luke's gospel

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addition, such a formula also appears <strong>in</strong> Luke 19:11. It is tenable that <strong>the</strong> <strong>in</strong>troduction<br />

conta<strong>in</strong>s <strong>the</strong> ma<strong>in</strong> po<strong>in</strong>t <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> parable, <strong>in</strong> opposition to <strong>the</strong> argument that Luke misses and<br />

distorts <strong>the</strong> ma<strong>in</strong> po<strong>in</strong>t <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> parable through <strong>the</strong> <strong>in</strong>troduction. 11 On <strong>the</strong> one hand, many<br />

scholars 12 regard vv. 6-8a as a secondary application <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> parable ei<strong>the</strong>r by pre-Lukan<br />

tradition or Luke. Their arguments stem largely from <strong>the</strong> fact that <strong>the</strong> notions <strong>of</strong> vv. 6-8a are<br />

<strong>in</strong> an <strong>in</strong>corrigible dissonance with <strong>the</strong> core parable (vv. 2-5). On <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r hand, it is argued<br />

that vv. 6-8a is defended as orig<strong>in</strong>al to <strong>the</strong> parable by o<strong>the</strong>r scholars. 13 Here vv. 6-8a at least<br />

can be defended as orig<strong>in</strong>al <strong>in</strong> that if <strong>the</strong> parable ends without this application, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g v.1,<br />

<strong>the</strong> reader <strong>the</strong>n is left with vagueness on what <strong>the</strong> parable means, and <strong>in</strong> that if <strong>the</strong> unjust<br />

judge as a rogue figure is used as an analogy to God, lest <strong>the</strong> audience misunderstands it,<br />

<strong>the</strong>re is a need to expla<strong>in</strong> it <strong>in</strong> detail, as here a fortiori argument. 14<br />

With respect to <strong>the</strong> au<strong>the</strong>nticity <strong>of</strong> v. 8b, most <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> commentaries agree that it was<br />

derived from pre-Lukan tradition. Notwithstand<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> arguments <strong>of</strong> an overwhelm<strong>in</strong>g<br />

Refram<strong>in</strong>g,” NTS 48 (2003), 22-38; Wendy Cotter, “The Parable <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Feisty Widow and <strong>the</strong> Threatened Judge<br />

(Luke 18:1-8),” NTS 51 (2005), 328-43, here 329; Snodgrass, Stories with Intent, 456.<br />

11. Marshall, Luke, 670-71; Blomberg, Parables, 273; Forbes, The God <strong>of</strong> Old: The Role <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Lukan Parables<br />

<strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> Purpose <strong>of</strong> Luke’s Gospel, 198-99. Aga<strong>in</strong>st this argument, see especially Curkpatrick, “Dissonance <strong>in</strong><br />

Luke 18:1-8,” 107-108; idem, “A Parable Frame-up and Its Audacious Refram<strong>in</strong>g,” 22-23; Reid, “A Godly<br />

Widow Persistently Pursu<strong>in</strong>g Justice: Luke 18:1-8,” 290-291.<br />

12. L<strong>in</strong>nemann and Freed <strong>in</strong> particular regard <strong>the</strong> whole story (vv. 1-8) as secondary. E. L<strong>in</strong>nemann, Parables <strong>of</strong><br />

Jesus, 187-88; Freed, “The Parable <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Judge and <strong>the</strong> Widow (Luke 18:1-8),” 38-60. For view<strong>in</strong>g vv. 6-8a as<br />

a secondary application <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> parable, see also Bultmann, History, 175-76; Schweizer, Luke, 278; Maddox, The<br />

Purpose <strong>of</strong> Luke-Acts, 127; Scott, Hear Then <strong>the</strong> Parable, 177, Goulder, Luke: A New Paradigm, 661; C.F.<br />

Evans, Sa<strong>in</strong>t Luke, 635-36, 638-39; Herzog, Parables as Subversive, 220; R.M. Price, The Widow Traditions <strong>in</strong><br />

Luke-Acts: A Fem<strong>in</strong>ist-Critical Scrut<strong>in</strong>y (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1997), 191-94; Bovon, “Apocalyptic<br />

Traditions <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> Lukan Special Material: Read<strong>in</strong>g Luke 18:1-8,” 385-91; Barbara E. Reid, “A Godly Widow<br />

Persistently Pursu<strong>in</strong>g Justice: Luke 18:1-8,” Biblical Research 45 (2000), 25-33, 28; idem, “Beyond Petty<br />

Pursuits and Wearisome Widows: Three Lukan Parables,” 290; Stephen Curkpatrick, “Dissonance <strong>in</strong> Luke 18:1-<br />

8,” 107-108; idem, “A Parable Frame-up and Its Audacious Refram<strong>in</strong>g,” 22-23; Cotter, “The Parable <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />

Feisty Widow and <strong>the</strong> Threatened Judge (Luke 18:1-8),” 330.<br />

13. Jeremias concludes that <strong>the</strong> story derived from Jesus <strong>of</strong> Nazareth on <strong>the</strong> grounds that vv. 6-8 have<br />

Aramaiz<strong>in</strong>g features that <strong>in</strong>dicate pre-Lukan and Palest<strong>in</strong>ian on l<strong>in</strong>guistic grounds. Jeremias, Parables, 153-57.<br />

For <strong>the</strong> similar op<strong>in</strong>ions, see W.G. Kümmel, Promise and Fulfilment: The Eschatological Message <strong>of</strong> Jesus<br />

(London: SCM Press, 1957), 59; Ellis, Luke, 213; Marshall, Luke, 670-71; Bailey, Through Peasant Eyes, 129;<br />

F.W. Danker, Jesus and <strong>the</strong> New Age: A Commentary on St. Luke’s Gospel (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1988), 294-<br />

95; Catchpole, “The Son <strong>of</strong> Man’s Search for Faith,” 81-104; J.M. Hicks, “The Parable <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Persistent Widow<br />

(Luke 18:1-8),” ResQ 33 (1991), 209-23, 210-12; Blomberg, “Interpret<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> Parables <strong>of</strong> Jesus: Where Are and<br />

Where Do We Go from Here” CBQ 53 (1991), 50-78, 75; J. Lieu, The Gospel <strong>of</strong> Luke (Peterborough: Epworth,<br />

1997), 138-40; T.K. Seim, The Double Message: Patterns <strong>of</strong> Gender <strong>in</strong> Luke-Acts (Ed<strong>in</strong>burgh: T & T Clark,<br />

1994), 244 n. 175; F.S. Spencer, “Neglected Widow <strong>in</strong> Acts 6:1-7,” CBQ 56 (1994), 715-33, here 724-25; Green,<br />

Luke, 636-43; Forbes, The God <strong>of</strong> Old: The Role <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Lukan Parables <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> Purpose <strong>of</strong> Luke’s Gospel, 199;<br />

Hultgren, Parables, 257-59; Snodgrass, Stories with Intent, 455-56.<br />

14. Forbes, The God <strong>of</strong> Old: The Role <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Lukan Parables <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> Purpose <strong>of</strong> Luke’s Gospel, 199; Hultgren,<br />

Parables, 257-58; Snodgrass, Stories with Intent, 455-57.<br />

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