David Gowler, The Parables after Jesus: Their Imaginative Receptions across Two Millennia
Ruben Zimmermann, Puzzling the Parables of Jesus: Methods and Interpretation
R. Steven Notley and Ze'ev Safrai, Parables of the Sages
John P. Meier A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus, Volume V: Probing the Authenticity of the Parables
Amy-Jill Levine, Short Stories by Jesus: the Enigmatic Parables of a Controversial Rabbi
For a comparison of these last two books by Brant Pitre (who studied under both authors) see:
http://historicaljesusresearch.blogspot.com/2016/01/levine-and-meier-on-parables-of-jesus.html
So what am I missing? Any other recent treatments of Jesus' parables or parables in the ANE more generally?
-anthony
Great post, Anthony! Thanks for alerting us to all of these, the first three of which I have not yet gotten to read. Any thoughts on this recent growth in Parables research? I'm thinking here of the contrast with the quest in the 80s, which emphasized actions of Jesus almost to the exclusive of sayings (e.g., E. P. Sanders). Any reasons for a 'return to the parables'? I'm also with you on the impressive work of Snodgrass. That thing is a gold-mine of information and insight.
ReplyDeleteAll good questions. I am working through Zimmermann now and trying to form a few coherent thoughts. Definitely worth a read!
DeleteGene Stecher
ReplyDeleteChambersburg, Pa.
Other recent treatments of Jesus' parables?
Hedrick, Charles W. Parabolic Figures or Narrative Fictions? Seminal Essays on the Stories of Jesus.
Cascade Books, 2016.
From the Intro(xii-xiii)): "In my view we have no idea how Jesus used his brief narratives. While Mark's view of the purpose of the parables is likely pre-Markan, (4:10-12) it does not go back to Jesus. Hence, if anything comes from Jesus it is the stories alone. And that means literary settings, and the comparative frames introducing the stories, along with their appended interpretations derive from the early communities, the gospel writers or both, as part of their strategy for understanding the stories. Even their designation in the gospels as 'parables' derives from the early Christian strategy for understanding the stories."
"What the synoptic writers describe as parables are in form narratives--realistic fictional narratives that disclose aspects of Palestinian antiquity. The question of how the parables function.....should arise from what the parables are in themselves, rather than from simply accepting the synoptic interpretive strategy that they are generally figurative. Successful fiction narrative, on the other hand, draws attention to itself and is not deliberately referential, even though it can be, and has been, read in that manner."
Stephen I Wright _Jesus the Story Teller_.
ReplyDeleteRichard Lischer, 'Reading the Parables' (WJK, 2014)
ReplyDeletenice
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