Point Of View In The Central Section Of Luke (9:51-19:44) -- By: James L. Resseguie

Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 25:1 (Mar 1982)
Article: Point Of View In The Central Section Of Luke (9:51-19:44)
Author: James L. Resseguie


Point Of View In The Central Section Of Luke
(9:51-19:44)

James L. Resseguie*

Numerous studies1 have attempted to solve the perplexing problem posed by the central section of Luke’s gospel: its purpose. In this brief essay I will attempt to show that the purpose of a part of Luke’s central section is to present in sharp relief two conflicting ideological points of view—the view of Jesus, and the view opposed to his. Before Jesus moves into Jerusalem and toward the passion the reader is shown two distinct worldviews or systems of ideas. Why the author chooses to illustrate the two ideological points of view is outside the scope of this essay, nor is it within the context of this essay to examine every narrative within the central section. I have selected one narrative, 14:14–33, as a test case to demonstrate the thesis.

*James Resseguie is associate professor of New Testament at Winebrenner Theological Seminary in Findlay, Ohio.

I will draw on Boris Uspensky’s classification of point of view, which looks at viewpoint from four different aspects: ideological, phraseological, spatial and temporal, and psychological. For this study I will use three of Uspensky’s categories: ideological, psychological and phraseological. 2

The ideological point of view is the least accessible of the various aspects of point of view to formalization, “for its analysis relies, to a degree, on intuitive understanding.”3 As “the system of ideas that shape the work,” 4 the ideological viewpoint comes to expression through the “deep compositional structure as opposed to the surface compositional structures.”5 The surface structures—what Uspensky refers to as the psychological and phraseological points of view—may, however, contribute to the conceptualization of the narrator’s or a character’s ideological point of view. Within the surface structures the voice of the characters, the narrative commentary, and the psychological observations concerning a character’s feelings and motivations are especially important in aiding us in conceptualizing the author’s or a particular character’s ideological point of view.

Though disparate points of view may be expressed on the lips of various characters only one voice emerges as authoritative, giving expression to the underlying ideological point of view of the narrative as a whole.

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