The Parables of Jesus: A History of Interpretation and Bibliography

463 Pages·1979·22.685 MB·English

by  Warren S. Kissinger

A TLA BIBLIOGRAPHY SERIES
edited by Dr. Kenneth E. Rowe
1. A Guide to the Study of the Holiness Movement, by Charles Edwin
Jones. 1974.
2. Thomas Merton: A Bibliography, by Marquita E. Breit. 1974.
3. The Sermon on the Mount: A History of Interpretation and Bibli
ography, by Warren S. Kissinger, 1975.
4. The Parables of Jesus: A History of Interpretation and Bibliography,
by Warren S. Kissinger. 1979.
THE PARABLES OF JESUS
A History of Interpretation
and Bibliography
by
Warren S. Kissinger
A TLA Bibliography Series, No. 4
The Scarecrow Press, Inc.,
Metuchen, N.J. & London,
and
The American Theological Library Association
1979
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Kissinger, Warren S 1922-
The parables of Jesus.
(ATLA bibliography series no. 4)
Includes index.
1. Jesus Christ--Parables. 2. Jesus Christ--
Parables--Bibliography. I. Title. II. Series: Ameri
can Theological Library Association. ATLA bibliography
series ; no. 4.
BT375. 2. K56 226'. 8'06 78-23271
ISBN 0-8108-1186-3
Copyright© 1979 by Warren S. Kissinger
Manufactured in the United States of America
To my parents
Howard Kissinger
and
Anna (Stauffer) Kissinger
with fond memories and gratitude
EDITOR'S NOTE
The American Theological Library Association Bibli
ography series is designed to stimulate and encourage the
preparation of reliable bibliographies and guides to the lit
erature of religious studies in all of its scope and variety.
Compilers are free to define their field, make their own se
lections, and work out internal organization as the unique
demands of the subject indicate. We are pleased to publish
this guide to the literature of the Parables as number four
in our series.
Warren S. Kissinger studied theology at Yale Divinity
School and at the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Gettys
burg, Pa. , and library science at Drexel University in Phila
delphia. An ordained minister in the Church of the Brethren,
he has served several pastorates in Pennsylvania, taught re
ligion at Juniata College in Huntingdon, Pa., and currently
serves as subject cataloger in religion at the Library of
Congress.
Kenneth E. Rowe, Editor
Drew University Library
Madison, New Jersey 07940
FOREWORD
Research on the parables of Jesus has entered a deci
sive new stage. Adolf Jillicher's work represents the water
shed between pre-modern (allegorical) interpretation of the
parables and the modern, historical-critical approach. C. H.
Dodd and Joachim Jeremias accepted JUlicher's negative view
of allegory and then rejected his broadest principle of moral
application in favor of a strictly historical interpretive con
text; that context was taken to be eschatological and, for
Jeremias, polemical A general moral point was exchanged
for a particular historical point. In spite of differences,
Dodd and Jeremias remain firmly in the tradition of JUlicher.
More recent interpreters are greatly in debt to Jere
mias, Dodd, and Jfilicher. Yet contemporary work on the
parables views the parables in their literary and aesthetic
dimensions and reads them as root metaphors. The parables
of Jesus are taken to found a new symbol system, out of
which Christianity with its variety of secondary and syncretic
languages grew. As metaphors, the parables transcend the
context into which Jesus spoke them, just as a great painting
or musical composition overflows its historical context. For
this reason, current parable interpretation is a serious modi
fiction of the JUlicher-Dodd-Jeremias tradition and links up,
remotely, with the older allegorical approach. Nevertheless,
recent leaders of the new mode of parable interpretation in
sist on the rights of historical criticism while tempering
those rights with literary criticism, structuralism, and inter
pretation theory. It may be said that the new phase of par
able interpretation is as distinct from its immediate scholarly
antecedents as JUlicher was from his.
It is thus entirely appropriate and even timely that
Warren Kissinger should have provided an important new re
search tool for parable study. His history of parable inter
pretation should serve to deepen reflection on the parables,
and his account of recent developments, because it is per
ceptive, lucid, and comprehensive, will serve generalist and
V
specialist alike. Indeed, his sketch will be a special boon to
students. In addition, the author has prepared an extensive
bibliography which will of necessity become a reference work
for every serious student of the parables. The appearance
of this volume will do much to stimulate the next round of
advances and will thus contribute to its own obsolescence.
Such is the reward of productive scholarship.
Robert W. Funk
University of Montana
1 February 1978
Vi
CONTENTS
Editor's Note (Kenneth E. Rowe) iv
Foreword (Robert W. Funk) V
Introduction xi
List of Parables xxii
Part I. History of Interpretation
1 Irenaeus 1
2 Tertullian 4
3 Clement of Alexandria 7
4 Origen 12
5 Augustine 18
6 Chrysostom 27
7 The Middle Ages 34
Gregory the Great 34
Bede 39
Thomas Aquinas 41
8 Martin Luther 44
9 John Calvin 48
10 John Maldonatus 56
11 Richard C. Trench 62
12 Alexander Balmain Bruce 67
13 Adolf JUlicher 71
14 Rabbinic Seholarship 77
Christian A. Bugge 77
Paul Fiebig 80
15 Protestant Liberalism 84
16 The Eschatological Reaction 89
Johannes Weiss 89
Albert Schweitzer 91
17 The Social Gospel 97
18 Form Criticism 102
Martin Dibelius 103
Rudolf Bultmann 106
19 A. T. Cadoux 113
20 C. H. Dodd 117
vii
viii / Contents
21 B. T. D. Smith 125
22 Joachim Jeremias 131
23 T. W. Manson 140
24 Archibald M. Hunter 143
25 Amos N. Wilder 149
26 Geriant V. Jones 156
27 Norman Perrin 165
28 The New Hermeneutic 173
Ernst Fuchs 180
Eta Linnemann 187
Eberhard Jllilgel 193
29 Robert W. Funk 197
30 Dan otto Via 209
31 John Dominic Crossan 221
Part II. The Bibliography
Parables in General 231
Individual Parables [see pages xxii - xxiv]
Barren Fig Tree 309
Blind Leading the Blind 310
Budding Fig Tree 310
Burglar 310
Defendant 311
Doctor and the Sick 311
Dragnet 311
Empty House 311
Friend at Midnight 312
Good Samaritan 313
Hid Treasure 322
Householder 323
Laborers in the Vineyard 324
Lamp and the Bushel 328
Last Judgment 329
Leaven 332
Lost Coin 333
Lost Sheep 334
Marriage Feast 336
Master and the Servants 342
Mustard Seed 342
Patched Garment 345
Pearl 346
Pharisee and the Publican 347
Playing Children 349
Pounds 349
Prodigal Son 351
Rich Fool 370
Rich Man and Lazarus 371