Changed Imagination, Changed Obedience [Hardcover]

Description: In this work, Houghtby-Haddon takes a new look at an old text, using a theory of the Social Imagination as an exegetical guide. In her exploration of the Bent-Over Woman story in Luke 13:10-17, Houghtby-Haddon uncovers clues suggesting that this story is a key interpretive text for seeing Luke's social vision for his community at work. Exploring mythic, social, communal, and cultural elements beneath the surface of the story, Houghtby-Haddon suggests that the Bent-Over Woman is the embodiment of Jesus' claim in the synagogue in Nazareth that today, these Scriptures are fulfilled in your hearing (Luke 4:16-21), and that the woman prefigures the post-Pentecost community that will gather in Jesus' name. The author concludes by taking the theory from the Gospel of Luke to the streets to see how a contemporary neighborhood group might use the Social Imagination model--and the new reading of the story of the Bent-Over Woman--to imagine a twenty-first-century social vision for its own community: a vision that more fully embodies the just community Jesus proclaims in Nazareth. Endorsements: Houghtby-Haddon combines expertise in biblical studies with theory from the history of religions and cultural anthropology to address a critical issue in the way policy is formed in our current social practices. It encourages leaders at all levels of our society to imagine alternative and creative responses to social issues and structural problems, and to think deeply about the relation between social structure and human well-being. The process she describes is in fact an outline of the creative construction of social formations that can support human well-being. Leaders in all of our political, social, and religious institutions will want to read this book. --Burton L. Mack author of Myth and the Christian Nation This book is a must read for anyone interested in understanding how scriptures can be used to understand contemporary social issues. The author's messló“