Good Samaritan : Luke 10 for the Life of the Church

The story of the good Samaritan in Luke 10 is one of Jesus's most well-known parables. It continues to fascinate readers with its powerful imagery and ethical significance.

In this exposition, New Testament scholar Emerson Powery shows how this classic and beloved text can speak afresh to the life of the church today. Powery explains that in every generation, followers of Jesus need to be reminded that mercy is a natural consequence of faith. Jesus's parable of the good Samaritan emphasizes this point in a dramatic way by placing an "enemy" as the central hero of the story. Powery explores diverse interpretations of the good Samaritan, carefully investigates this parable within the theology of the Gospel of Luke, and connects the parable to contemporary events. The book encourages readers to think through the ethical implications of this story for their own contexts.

The Touchstone Texts series addresses key Bible passages, making high-quality biblical scholarship accessible to the church. The series editor is Stephen B. Chapman, Duke Divinity School.

Emerson B. Powery (PhD, Duke University) is professor of biblical studies at Messiah University in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. He is the author of Jesus Reads Scripture and Immersion Bible Studies: Mark and the coauthor of The Genesis of Liberation: Biblical Interpretation in the Antebellum Narratives of the Enslaved. He is also the coeditor of True to Our Native Land: An African American New Testament Commentary.