What are they saying about the parables?

159 Pages·2000·6.78 MB·English

by  David B. Gowler

§V\ATS~
What Are They Saying About
the Parables?
T HE PARABLES JESUS in the Gospels are considered the
OF
single most important source for discovering how Jesus himseJf
taught and proclaimed his message. They have been studied
and analyzed thousands of times, and yet they constantly
reveal new insights and are rediscovered with fresh vision in
each generation. Biblical scholarship of the last few decades
is just as full of lively debate and new approaches to the para
bles. Such new methods of literary reading as structuralism,
the "new criticism," and reader response all play vital and
dynamic roles in helping us to understand the wonderful levels
of metaphor and symbol that Jesus employed to both reveal
and keep hidden the mystery of the Kingdom of God.
David B. Gowler has spent many years mastering parables
research and now shares his knowledge of the whole field in a
clear, evenhanded, succinct, and energetic manner for ordi
nary readers. It is an excellent book for all students of the Bible,
for classes as well as private enrichment. With so much new
happening in parables study today, this is very timely indeed.
D Av o B. G o w L is professor of religious studies and assis
1 ER
tant academic dean at Chowan College in Murfreesburg,
North Carolina, and has written and edited several books and
journal articles in the areas of New Testament social issues,
historical background, and its style and rhetoric.
51 0 9 5
PAULIST PRESS
www.paulistpress.com
$10.95
What Are They Saying About
the Parables?
David B. Gowler
PAULIST PRESS
New York/Mahwah, N.J.
Cover design by lames Brisson
Copyright C 2000 by David B. Gowler
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without pennission
in writing from the Publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gowler, David B., 1958-
What are they saying about the parables? I David B. Gowler.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8091-3962-6 (alk. paper)
1. Jesus Christ-Parables. I. Title.
BT375.2.G69 2000
226.8'06-dc21
00-027346
Published by Paulist Press
997 Macarthur Boulevard
Mahwah, New Jersey 07430
www.paulistpress.com
Printed and bound in the
United States of America
Contents
Introduction 1
1. Historical-Critical Approaches to the Parables 3
2. The Emergence of Literary Approaches to the Parables 16
3. Fully Developed Literary Approaches to the Parables 28
4. The Parables and Their Jewish Contexts 41
5. The Parables and Their Hellenistic Contexts 57
6. The Parables and Their Social Contexts 68
7. From Simile and Metaphor to Symbol
and Emblematic Language 85
Conclusion 102
Notes 104
For Further Reading 139
Scripttrrelndex 148
V
For my mother and father,
Betty L Gowler
and
Cedric M. Gowler, Sr.
Introduction
If studied correctly, "the parables will receive a like inter
pretation from all." So wrote lrenaeus, the second-century Chris
tian theologian, in his work Against Heresies (Book 2, Chapter
XXVIT). His own writings concerning the parables, however, as
well as the eighteen intervening centuries challenge that assess
ment. He and other early church theologians, such as Tertullian,
Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Augustine, all relied on the
extensive use of allegory to explain (more "fully") the simple nar
ratives in the gospels we call parables.1 The radical divergences
and complexity of various interpretations in recent studies on the
parables only serve to reinforce the point that these short narra
tives continue to challenge our minds, hearts, and imaginations.
This book will introduce as succinctly as possible the ener
getic scholarly discussions about the parables of Jesus. I will set
the discussions in context and highlight contemporary problems,
debates, and current avenues of study. Because of the nature of
my task and goals for this series, the discussions must be repre
sentative, not exhaustive. The objective is not breadth of knowl
edge, but depth of insight, and no book can take the place of a
careful, informed reading of the parables themselves, for, after
all, the caveat noted in rabbinic literature still perfectly evokes the
1
2 What Are They Saying About the Parables?
power of parables: "So the parable should not be lightly esteemed
in your eyes, since by means of the parable a man arrives at the
true meaning of the words of the Torah" (Midrash Song of Songs
Rabbah 1.1,8).
So to label, as I did above, the parables of Jesus as "simple
narratives" is perhaps inaccurate. The complexities of modem
scholarship on the parables reflect the parables' own innate and
somewhat incongruous complexity-and enigmatic nature. Any
book about the parables therefore faces another difficulty. As
Richard Pevear notes in his introduction to Fyodor Dostoevsky's
Crime and Punishment, 2 "the first perplexity of criticism is that it
must speak monosemantically of the polysemous" (viii). What is
true for Dostoevsky's writings is also true for the polyvalent para
bles of Jesus: "[T]hey leap out of their historical situation and
confront us as if they had not yet spoken their final word" (viii).
Appropriately, no final word will be offered here-only a rejoin
der within the current dialogues.
I wish to express my appreciation to my own partners in dia
logue. Special thanks go to Vernon Robbins, Douglas Low, Doug
Chismar, Carol Taylor, Jim Lambeth, and Nancy Gowler Johnson
for their critiques of the manuscript. Lawrence Boadt of Paulist
Press was exceptionally patient even while I changed-mid
stream in the writing of this book-to a new position where I was,
as he so aptly put it, "busy writing memos." With love and grati
tude, I thank my wife Rita and our sons Camden and Jacob. We
began this book together during a delightful summer at Yale Uni
versity, and now we continue on to the next chapter of our lives
together. Finally, this book is dedicated to my parents, Cedric and
Betty Gowler, who dedicated so much of their lives to their chil
dren. To you we owe a debt we cannot repay.
1
Historical-Critical Approaches
to the Parables
Modern research on the parables essentialJy began with
Adolph Julicher's first edition of Die Gleichnisreden Jesu in 1886,1
and-although his categories have been superseded-many of his
discussions still influence current debates. For example, Jillicher
argues that one must distinguish between the parables of the histori
cal Jesus and the parables as they are found in the Synoptic Gospels
(Mt, Mk, Lk). Not only were the parables told thirty to fifty years
before the gospels were written down, but the gospel authors them
selves were creative expositors of the traditions. For Jtilicher, the
major problem is that the gospel authors obscured the parabolic
message of Jesus with an overgrowth of allegory, descriptive sup
plementation, and interpretive application. In addition, in a survey
of previous interpretations of the parables, Jillicher demonstrates
that, with a few exceptions such as John Calvin and John Maldona
tus, virtually all interpreters imposed allegorical interpretations far
exceeding those found in the gospels themselves.
Julicher sets out to prune that allegorical overgrowth. Such
an approach, of course, not only assumes that an allegorical over
growth exists, but also that with a proper set of shears and a
trained eye, we can pare back the allegorical overgrowth in the
gospels to uncover the pristine parables of Jesus. For Jillicher,
3
4 What Are They Saying About the Parables?
these properly trimmed, "original" parables demonstrate that
Jesus used parables to "illustrate the unfamiliar by the commonly
familiar, to guide gently upwards from the easy to the difficult"
(1.146).
This understanding of the parables is intimately connected
to Jtilicher's conception of (a) the form and nature of parables and
(b) the meanings intended by the parables. Depending primarily
on the work of Aristotle, Jtilicher believes that parables are simi
les (comparisons) not metaphors. A metaphor is enigmatic indi
rect speech that says one thing but means another. It remains
incomprehensible without interpretation and the proper context.
Here Jiilicher borrows Aristotle's famous example: "A lion
rushed on" could be a metaphor for "Achilles rushed on" (1.52). A
simile, on the other hand, is direct speech, which is simple, clear,
and self-explanatory: "Achilles rushed on like a lion." The sim
ile's purpose is to teach (1.52-58).
The metaphor easily extends into the allegory, which,
according to Jillicher, Jesus never used. Instead, Jesus utilized the
simile, which can extend into three forms:
1. Similitude ( Gleichnis )-The similitude contains a com
monly recognized occurrence from daily life that is composed of
two aspects-the "picture" created by the story and the "object"
(or "reality") contained in it. There is one picture and one
object/reality portrayed, and the details of the similitude merely
provide a colorful background. The interpreter's task is to dis
cover the single point of comparison (the tertium comparationis)
at which the two parts connect (with a like or as). This point of
comparison challenges the hearer/reader with the necessity of
either forming a judgment or making a decision (1.58-80). The
saying about the children playing in the marketplace is a simili
tude (Mt 11:16-19; Lk 7:31-34).
2. Parable (Parabel}-The parable is a freely invented story
that functions the same way as the similitude and has all of its
attributes. The parable is like a similitude in that the "resemblance"