Reading the Parables (Interpretation: Resources for the Use of Scripture in the Church)

by Richard Lischer

Publisher:

Westminster John Knox

, 2014

Overview

Parables make up one-third of Jesus’ speech in the New Testament. In this volume, Richard Lischer provides an expert guide to these parables and proposes an important distinction between reading and interpreting the parables. Lischer emphasizes the importance of reading the parables versus interpreting them. He asserts that reading offers a kind of breathing space to explore historical, literary, theological, and socio-political dimensions of the parables and their various meanings. Interpreting a parable implies an expert and critical position that must also be defended. Lischer lays out four theories for reading parables. First, parables obscure truth. Second, parables teach many truths. Third, parables teach one truth. Fourth, parables undermine the truth. Ultimately, the author concludes that biblical parables undermine dominant myths called “the truth” to shine light on the Truth that is Jesus, God’s presence with mankind.

Product Details

• Title: Reading the Parables
• Author: Richard Lischer
• Edition: First edition
• Series: Interpretation: Resources for the Use of Scripture in the Church
• Publisher: Westminster John Knox
• Print Publication Date: 2014
• Logos Release Date: 2016
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subject: Jesus Christ › Parables
• ISBNs: 9780664260255, 066426025X
• Resource ID: LLS:READINGPARABLES
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2022-12-12T20:11:28Z

About Richard Lischer

A native of St. Louis, Professor Lischer’s graduate theological training is in systematic theology. He is an ordained minister in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and has nine years of pastoral experience in rural and suburban settings. He joined the Duke Divinity School faculty in 1979 and teaches in the areas of homiletics and ministry. In his scholarly work Dr. Lischer has sought to portray proclamation as an integrated theological activity. He also has explored the interactions of preaching, politics and contemporary culture, notably in The Preacher King: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Word that Moved America and in his most recent book The End of Words. His theological memoir, Open Secrets, evokes the hidden dynamics of ministry in a small-town parish. Professor Lischer has taught and lectured widely in the areas of practical theology, ministry, religious autobiography and preaching. He has held many distinguished lectureships, including the Lyman Beecher Lectures at Yale Divinity School. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007 from the Academy of Homiletics.