Redefining Success: Reinterpreting the Parable of the Rich Fool (Luke 12:13-21) through the lens of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Abstract

Abstract In today's world, success is typically measured by material accumulation, financial stability, and visible achievement. Yet the biblical literature presents an alternative perspective that challenges such reductionist understandings. This article uses the social scientific method of biblical interpretation to examine the parable of the Rich Fool in Luke 12:13-21 through the lens of Abraham Maslow's theory of Needs. By placing the parable into conversation with Maslow's motivational framework, the study argues that the rich fool represents a case of arrested psychological and spiritual development: materially secured yet existentially deficient. Although he satisfied his physiological and safety needs, he failed to progress towards belongingness, self-actualisation, and transcendence. The divine pronouncement exposed the fragility of wealth-centred identity and reframed success in relational and transcendent terms—being “rich toward God.” This integrative reading contributes to interdisciplinary biblical scholarship, showing the underlying motivational structure of the Rich Fool’s behaviour and its implications for the contemporary definition of success.