"Several recent studies have suggested that the Gospel of Luke recommends generous almsgiving or a relatively benign sharing ethic that mimics existing redistributive measures in early Roman Palestine. Employing a real, situated, committed reader and drawing upon reader-response criticism, narratology, and intertextuality, this study argues that a much more subversive reading of the Gospel's wealth and possessions traditions is defensible. It is suggested that because persons with access to a large surplus too often elect to spend extravagantly on their own desires and existing means of redistribution such as almsgiving and beneficence were failing to offer any lasting changes that might truly be received as "good news" by the poor, Jesus advocates eliminating personal wealth."--Jacket.

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