Mês: dezembro 2006

Kloppenborg, J. S. The Tenants in the Vineyard: Ideology, Economics, and Agrarian Conflict in Jewish Palestine. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2006, xxix + 651 p. ISBN 3-16-148908-X

Minha dissertação de Mestrado foi sobre uma parábola, a de Mt 25,1-13, a Parábola das Dez Virgens, sob orientação de Ugo Vanni. Desde a década de 90 nunca mais estudei as parábolas, por estar me dedicando somente à Bíblia Hebraica, e hoje nem sei qual é a orientação dominante dos estudos da área. Estudei muito, na época, na linha de Joachim Jeremias, e também tive a oportunidade de ser aluno de Jacques Dupont.

Agora, me deparo com o livro de John S. Kloppenborg, o grande especialista em Quelle, professor da Universidade de Toronto, Canadá, que escreveu, neste ano um livro de 651 páginas sobre a Parábola dos Vinhateiros, em Mc 12,1-12 e Evangelho de Tomé 65.

O título do livro é: Os Meeiros da Vinha: ideologia, economia e conflito agrário na Palestina judaica.

O autor diz que o conflito que a parábola descreve não era incomum na época, e ele a situa de maneira sólida no contexto das práticas da viticultura antiga. Mas o mais interessante é que Kloppenborg mostra que esta parábola, que foi contada por Jesus contra a elite dominante da época, acabou sendo lida, pela exegese e pela pregação, como sustentação do status quo.

Veja a descrição do livro na página da editora Mohr Siebeck:

John S. Kloppenborg gives a detailed analysis of one of the most difficult of Jesus’ parables, the parable of the Tenants (Mark 12:1-12; Gospel of Thomas 65). He examines the ways in which Christians have typically read and mis-read the parable, and places the parable firmly in the context of the practices of ancient viticulture. The author models a new approach to the interpretation of the parables of Jesus. First, he critically engages the history of interpretation of the text, inquiring into the ideological interests that the parable has engaged during the history of its use in Christian churches and in political discourse. Second, he reconstructs the social world in which the parable was first told, in particular the economic, social, and legal aspects of ancient viticulture. He demonstrates that the parable of the Tenants has mostly been interpreted from the standpoint of those who wield social and political power, a strange irony considering the social status of the Jesus of history and the literary uses of the parable. All of the features common to the parable as it is told by Mark and the Gospel of Thomas make it a perfectly realistic story. It is only Mark’s editing of the story that takes it beyond the realistic idiom characteristic of Jesus’ other parables. The book concludes with a dossier of 58 papyrus documents relating to various aspects of viticulture and agrarian conflict.

Quem é John S. Kloppenborg?

Born 1951; M.A. and Ph.D. at the University of St. Michael’s College; Professor and Associate Chair of the Department for the Study of Religion, University of Toronto, Canada. John S. Kloppenborg is a specialist in Christian origins and second Temple Judaism, in particular the Jesus tradition (the canonical and non canonical gospels), and the social world of the early Jesus movement in Jewish Palestine and in the cities of the eastern Empire. He was written extensively on the Synoptic Sayings Gospel (Q) and the Synoptic Problem, and is currently writing on the parables of Jesus, the letter of James, and cultic, professional, and ethnic associations in the Graeco-Roman world. He has taught and conducted research in Toronto, Windsor, Jerusalem, Cambridge, UK, Calgary, Helsinki, and Claremont, Calif. Is one of the general editors of the International Q Project.