The contributors to this volume offer a fresh perspective on Jesus's parables, viewing them as persuasive tools rather than merely informative stories. They examine how these parables engaged audiences both emotionally and intellectually, aiming to persuade rather than simply teach, within their original Jewish and Greek cultural context.
This volume heralds a new era in the study of Jesus's parables, emphasizing the need to focus on the parables' function within their literary context. The overall theme of the collection proposes that in their original setting, the parables primarily served as persuasive devices. By applying modern argumentation analysis and examining Jesus's parables within their broader Early Jewish and Hellenistic milieu, it becomes evident that these stories were not merely told to disseminate theological or historical information. Rather, they functioned as tools for persuasion, aimed at engaging the audience, including potential antagonists. The parables' impact does not rest solely on the speaker's authority, but rather on the interactive nature of the narratives. This effect is achieved by appealing to the audience's reason while simultaneously engaging their emotions and imagination.
Table of contents:
Lauri Thurén/Antti Kyytsönen/Katri Antin : Introduction: From a Proclamation to an Invitation to Dance - Towards a New Era in Parable Research
Lauri Thurén : How Does a Parable Function? On the Threshold of a Rhetorical Turn -
Niilo Lahti: The Strategic Use of Metaphors in Argumentation by Parable - Cases in Point: Lightning & Vultures (Matthew 24:23-28) -
Antti Kyytsönen: Is It Time to Get Emotional with the Parables of Jesus? -
Katri Antin: Who can understand Jesus's parables? Parable audiences in Matthew 13 and Matthew 21-22 -
Lauri Thurén, Antti Kyytsönen, Katri Antin: New Insights into the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant in Context.
Anders Martinsen: Eschatological Violence and Anger in Matt 18:23-35 -
Samuel Tedder: Does the Persuasive Power of Some Parables of Jesus Depend on Their Connections with Israel's Scriptures? - Developing a Methodology with Matthew 13 -
Ernest van Eck: The Historical Jesus behind the Text: Manipulated Parables and Theological Constructions -
Lotta Valve: The Enigma of the Parable of the Automatic Seed (Mark 4:26-29) -
Vesa Ollilainen: Stumbling Blocks or Cornerstones? The Parables of Jesus in Third Quest Studies.
Eric Ottenheijm: »Why do you teach them in parables«? Comparing the Synoptic and Rabbinic Parable Theory -
Tobias Ålöw: Kingdom-Meshalim and Parables as Persuasive Narratives in the Tannaitic Tradition and the Gospel of Matthew -
Lieve Teugels: What Difference does a Parable Make? The Rhetorics of the Parable of the Architect in its Early Jewish and Early Christian Versions -
Albertina Oegema: The Ethics of Fatherly Happiness - A Narrative Ethical Analysis of the Parables in Luke 15:11-32 and Sifre Deut. 343 -
Marcel Poorthuis: Parables about parables: the case of Cain and of Jewish mysticism -
Ruben Zimmermann: On Fish and the Fishnet (Babr. Fab. 4, Matt 13:47-50, Gos. Thom. 8) - Animals as Characters in Jesus's Parables and Babrius's Fables -
Serafim Seppälä: Parables in Ephrem the Syrian's Commentary on the Diatessaron.
