Overview

"Over the centuries, some interpreters have attempted to explain what parables mean. Other interpreters have endeavored to articulate what parables do-how they ""work"" rhetorically or poetically. With the parables of Jesus, however, more is required, because Jesus' parables have always demanded a response from readers or hearers. Interpreters, therefore, should also seek to ascertain what parables want, because the parables of Jesus not only stake claims and demand responses; they also challenge their hearers to act. This challenge reverberates across the centuries, calling us continually back to the texts to discover anew what these distinctive and wonderful stories show us about what it means to be human and the ways in which Jesus urges us to follow God in word and deed. The Parables after Jesus is the first book to explore in a comprehensive way the ""afterlives"" of the parable tradition-how people have interpreted, been influenced by, and applied Jesus' enigmatic and compelling parables in a multitude of ways, perspectives, eras, contexts, and media. Interpretation is never a solitary endeavor, for each interpreter stands on the shoulders of previous interpreters, continually in dialogue with other interpretations, past and present. Gowler's reception history discusses more than fifty imaginative receptions of Jesus' parables, selected from two millennia of parable interpretation-from those who have dominated discussions to often ignored or suppressed voices. From this we see how the use of Jesus' parables affects society and culture and how powerfully parables have challenged-and continue to challenge-people's hearts, minds, and imaginations."

Full Product Details

Author:   David B. Gowler
Publisher:   Baylor University Press
Imprint:   Baylor University Press
ISBN:  

9781481314114

ISBN 10:   1481314114
Pages:   320
Publication Date:   30 January 2021
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In stock  
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Table of Contents

List of Illustrations Preface Abbreviations Introduction 1. The Afterlives of Jesus's Parables in Antiquity (to ca. 550 CE) Irenaeus The Gospel of Philip Clement of Alexandria Tertullian Origen John Chrysostom Augustine Macrina the Younger Ephrem the Syrian The Good Shepherd in Early Christian Art Oil Lamp Roman Catacombs Dura-Europos House Church Illuminations from the Rossano Gospels Byzantine Mosaics, Christ Separating Sheep from Goats, Sant'Apollinare Nuovo (Ravenna, Italy) Romanos the Melodist 2. The Afterlives of Jesus's Parables in the Middle Ages (ca. 550–1500 CE) Gregory the Great Sahih al-Bukhari Wazo of Liège The Golden Gospels of Echternach The Laborers in the Vineyard The Wicked Tenants The Great Dinner The Rich Man and Lazarus Theophylact Hildegard of Bingen Chartres Cathedral Bonaventure Thomas Aquinas John Gower Antonia Pulci Albrecht Dürer 3. The Afterlives of Jesus's Parables in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries Martin Luther Anna Jansz of Rotterdam John Calvin John Maldonatus William Shakespeare Domenico Fetti George Herbert Roger Williams Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn John Bunyan 4. The Afterlives of Jesus's Parables in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries William Blake Søren Kierkegaard Frederick Douglass Fanny Crosby Leo Tolstoy John Everett Millais Emily Dickinson Charles Haddon Spurgeon Adolf Jülicher 5. The Afterlives of Jesus's Parables in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries Thomas Hart Benton Parables and the Blues: Rev. Robert Wilkins Flannery O'Connor Martin Luther King Jr. Godspell Two Latin American Receptions The Peasants of Solentiname Elsa Tamez David Flusser Octavia Butler Thich Nhat Hanh Conclusion: What Do Parables Want? Appendix: Descriptions of the Parables Cited in the Interpretations Works Cited Scripture Index Subject Index

Reviews

With The Parables after Jesus, David Gowler has provided contemporary readers with resources necessary to respond to what the parables want, with an answer that 'involves both understanding and action.' For this gift of erudite scholarship that culminates in a challenging call to action, we are in David Gowler's debt once again. -Mikeal C. Parsons, Review of Biblical Literature David Gowler invites us to participate in a two-thousand-year-old dialogue with those seeking to understand and implement the simple, yet often perplexing, parables of Jesus. Gowler has assembled fifty conversation partners from literature, poetry, hymns, the visual arts, and theater that span the Christian era. These voices hail from a broad and diverse range of historically, theologically, and culturally significant contexts. By entering into this dialogue, Gowler hopes that rather than find what we expect to find in the parables, we can take off our own interpretive blinders and come to a fuller understanding of the meanings and applications of the parables to our lives. He succeeds! The conversation in which he engages us here is truly an eye-opening and enriching experience. -Duane F. Watson, Malone University Gowler has once again contributed a valuable work to the growing field of reception history and biblical studies. It is especially important to note that he sees this work as an 'introduction, ' a 'starting point' and 'stimulus for further discussions, ' and as such it certainly accomplishes this task. -Zechariah Eberhart, Religious Studies Review This wonderfully engaging volume offers a rich array of insights, as the author introduces us to a chorus of diverse voices from a wide variety of media. David Gowler's immense learning is expressed with superb clarity, making interpretations of the parables across two millennia accessible to all. Highly recommended. -Christine Joynes, Centre for Reception History of the Bible, University of Oxford If the parables stimulate your mind, feed your soul, upset your values, and occasionally confuse you, you're in good company. Exegetes, poets, hymn writers, allegorists, social reformers, novelists, and painters feature in this brisk tour through two thousand years of parable interpretation, often urging readers to see more in the parables or to view them through a different set of eyes. As a knowledgeable guide through a lively history, David Gowler highlights the evocative interpretations that emerge when a parable encounters a fertile imagination. -Matthew L. Skinner, Luther Seminary For most of its history, parable research has, perhaps rightly, focused on the composition history of Jesus's parables from the oral period in which they were spoken to their placement in the Christian Gospels. David Gowler has studied, taught, and written about the parables for many years, and in this fascinating study he has trained his eagle eye on the latter part of the parables' 'career'-the impact of their afterlife on the literature, music, and art that stand as heirs to this remarkable corpus of stories. Arranged chronologically, Gowler's study spans two thousand years of reception. This treasure trove belongs in the library of anyone interested in the ways Jesus's parables have challenged our hearts, minds, and imaginations, and it confirms that the world the parables has produced is no less interesting and complex than the world that produced the parables. -Mikeal C. Parsons, Baylor University

With The Parables after Jesus, David Gowler has provided contemporary readers with resources necessary to respond to what the parables want, with an answer that 'involves both understanding and action.' For this gift of erudite scholarship that culminates in a challenging call to action, we are in David Gowler's debt once again. --Mikeal C. Parsons Review of Biblical Literature Gowler has once again contributed a valuable work to the growing field of reception history and biblical studies. It is especially important to note that he sees this work as an 'introduction, ' a 'starting point' and 'stimulus for further discussions, ' and as such it certainly accomplishes this task. --Zechariah Eberhart Religious Studies Review

Author Information

David B. Gowler is Pierce Professor of Religion at Oxford College of Emory University, Senior Faculty Fellow at the Center for Ethics at Emory University, and Co-Editor of Emory Studies in Early Christianity. He is the author of  Host, Guest, Enemy, and Friend: Portraits of the Pharisees in Luke and Acts;  What Are They Saying about the Parables?;  What Are They Saying about the Historical Jesus?;  James through the Centuries; and  The Parables after Jesus: Their Imaginative Receptions across Two Millennia. His books have been translated into French, Korean, Indonesian, and Japanese. He has also published dozens of articles, book chapters, and book reviews, and is the editor or coeditor of over thirty books.

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