Interpreting The Parables (Revised)

Abbreviations
Preface
1. Introduction
1.1 The Previous Scholarly Consensus
1.2 The Sizable Minority Report
1.3 Newest Developments
1.4 The Scope And Outline Of This Book

Part One: Methods & Controversies In Interpreting The Parables

2. Parable & Allegory
2.1 The Current Debate: Two Main Approaches
2.1.1 Parable Vs. Allegory
2.1.2 Parable As Allegory
2.2 Evaluating The Debate
2.2.1 Contemporary Literary Criticism
2.2.2 The Rabbinic Parables
2.3 Conclusions

3. Form Criticism & The Parables
3.1 Classical Form Criticism
3.1.1 The Method
3.1.2 Critique
3.2 Hypotheses Of The Guarded Tradition
3.2.1 Memorizing Jesus Teachings
3.2.2 New Insights Into Oral Folklore And Social Memory
3.3 Conclusions

4. Redaction Criticism Of The Parables
4.1 Positive Contributions
4.1.1 The Illustration Of Distinctive Themes
4.1.2 The Significance Of The Larger Contexts
4.2 Invalid Allegations
4.2.1 Misleading Parallels
4.2.2 Dictional Analysis
4.2.3 The Theology-History Dichotomy
4.2.4 Prophecy After The Event
4.2.5 Characterizing The Parables In Different Synoptic Sources
4.2.6 Mistaking Stylistic For Theological Redaction
4.2.7 Misrepresenting The Theology Of An Evangelist
4.3 Conclusions

5. New Literary & Hermeneutical Methods
5.1 The New Hermeneutic
5.1.1 The New View Of Metaphor
5.1.2 A Critique Of The New View Of Metaphor
5.2 Structuralism
5.2.1 The Ideology
5.2.2 The Method
5.2.3 Surface Structures
5.3 Poststructuralism/Postmodernism
5.3.1 Deconstruction
5.3.2 Reader-Response Criticism
5.4 Other Literary Approaches [au: FYI, Edited To Match Text.]
5.5 Conclusions
Conclusions To Part One

Part Two: The Meaning & Significance Of Individual Parables

6. Simple Three-Point Parables
6.1 The Prodigal Son (Lk 15:11-32)
6.2 The Lost Sheep And Lost Coin (Lk 15:4-10; Cf. Mt 18:12-14)
6.3 The Two Debtors (Lk 7:41-43)
6.4 The Two Sons (Mt 21:28-32)
6.5 Faithful And Unfaithful Servants (Lk 12:42-48; Mt 24:45-51)
6.6 The Ten Virgins (Mt 25:1-13; Cf. Lk 13:24-30)
6.7 The Wheat And The Tares (Mt 13:24-30, 36-43)
6.8 The Dragnet (Mt 13:47-50)
6.9 The Rich Man And Lazarus (Lk 16:19-31)
6.10 The Children In The Marketplace (Mt 11:16-19; Lk 7:31-35)
6.11 Conclusions

7. Complex Three-Point Parables
7.1 The Talents (Mt 25:14-30; Cf. Lk 19:12-27)
7.2 The Laborers In The Vineyard (Mt 20:1-16)
7.3 The Sower (Mk 4:3-9, 13-20 Pars.)
7.4 The Good Samarita

Additional Info
In the last century, more studies of the parables were produced than for any other section of comparable length in the Bible. The problem is that few students of the Bible have access to these studies. In this substantially new and expanded edition, Craig Blomberg surveys and evaluates the contemporary critical approaches to the parables–including those that have emerged in the twenty years since the first edition was published. The classic works of C. H. Dodd and Joachim Jeremias set the direction for nearly all further parable studies in this century. Embodied in both scholars’ approaches are at least two assumptions that, for the most part, have gone unchallenged: (1) Parables make one and only one main point. (2) Parables are not allegories. But can these assumptions be supported by the evidence? Challenging this view and making his own important new contribution to parable studies, Blomberg argues that within proper definitions and limits, the parables are in fact best seen as allegories. In support of this “minority report” concerning parable interpretation, Blomberg not only sets forth theoretical considerations but devotes attention to all the major parables, providing brief interpretations that highlight the insights to be gained from his distinctive method.