Or: “I give that you may give”. A new economy is clearly proposed by the author of Luke, but how radical or even anarchic is it? Free gifts, i.e. gifts to people who cannot reciprocate, do not make friends, or do they? Please read Luke 14 for Wednesday, and Green 539-68. We will focus on 14.7-14 (the economy of the gift) and 14.15-24 (the guest list for the great dinner).

Some of the readings on the question of the gift economy are: M. Mauss, The Gift (1924), translated by W. D. Hals (NY/London: Norton, 1990); M. Sahlins, Stone Age Economics (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1972). Annette Weiner, Inalienable Possessions; the Paradox of Keeping while Giving (Berkeley: UC Press, 1992); M. Godelier, The Enigm of the Gift (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1999); M. Hénaff, “Religious Ethics, Gift Exchange and Capitalism” Archives européennes de sociologie 44 (2003), 293–324 (especially pages 307–315, for what concerns us).