Degree Year
2014
Document Type
Thesis - Open Access
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Religion
Advisor(s)
David G. Kamitsuka
Keywords
Parables, Ecotheology, Biblical interpretation, Scriptural hermeneutic, Progressive Christianity, Christian scripture, Gospel of Luke, Prophetic principle, Environmental theology, Environmental studies
Abstract
In this paper I demonstrate how adopting a scriptural hermeneutic based in Rosemary Radford Ruether’s prophetic principle can cultivate the ability of Christian communities to interpret Scripture based on their own community context. I will provide an interpretive framework for rethinking relationships between humans, nature, and the Divine that can serve as a correction for entrenched reading practices that reinforce Christianity’s complicity in environmental degradation. I use reader-response theory to conduct literary-critical readings of three well-known parables from the Gospel of Luke. The parabolic structure of orientation, disorientation, and reorientation informs my view of the parables as inherently subversive and on the side of the marginalized and oppressed in society. I propose applying this reading practice to three parables with the goal of reorienting social norms to be radically inclusive: love, neighborliness and hospitality, thereby challenging the dominant paradigms of hierarchical binaries, anthropocentrism, and utilitarianism.
Repository Citation
Peebles, Anita L., "Ecotheology and the Parables of Jesus: Creative Re-readings of Parables In Light of the Environmental Crisis" (2014). Honors Papers. 302.
https://digitalcommons.oberlin.edu/honors/302
