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Biblical Hermeneutics

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  • Did you read that book by Welch, the link to which I gave you? If not, he is talking there about it, challenging the whole point of validity of this story about Lazarus and the rich man. Or... are you asking this question because you've just read that book and want to get a broader scope of views? Commented Feb 1, 2014 at 7:25
  • No I haven't read it but plan to check it out. What do you mean "challenging the validity"? I am asking the question because I want people to defend there view against the text! I believe for some views to hold water they have to do away with this text. Maybe you should give an answer and defend your view, and include some of the book. Take a stab at it - I challenge you. Commented Feb 1, 2014 at 7:33
  • @JLB Be careful not to bring theological and cultural assumptions to the text, namely that Hades and heaven are separate places (and the corresponding ideas about what they are). The notions of 'heaven' and 'hell' in Western culture were foreign in the mindset of first-century Judea, and thus reading these ideas back into the text is anachronistic. Note that both men went to Hades in this passage. Also note that death and Hades are thrown into the lake of fire in Revelation 20:14. Commented Feb 1, 2014 at 9:04
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    @JLB and I know I should answer the question rather than throw controversial fodder into the comments :P - if I only had more time! Commented Feb 1, 2014 at 9:12
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    "What do you mean "challenging the validity"?" - If I got it right, he says there that this whole story about Lazarus and the rich man is a kind of product of a wrong belief that Jews used to hold (he uses Flavius Josephus' words as a proof of that), but of which no part of the OT is supportive, so Jesus used that wrong-belief story as a contrast to what He was teaching. Same approach is for the parable of the unjust steward earlier in the same chapter. Commented Feb 1, 2014 at 9:26