Short Stories by Jesus: The Enigmatic Parables of a Controversial Rabbi - Hardcover

Amy-Jill Levine

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0061561010 ISBN 13: 9780061561016

Publisher: Bravo Ltd, 2014

Synopsis

Renowned biblical scholar at Vanderbilt Divinity School, author of The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus, and general editor for The Jewish Annotated New Testament, Amy-Jill Levine reveals the "live and uncut" version of Jesus' most popular teaching tool, the parable, exposing their misinterpretations and making them come alive for today's reader. Jesus was a great storyteller, and his most effective teachings were communicated in parables. They were so effective because the parables were taken from everyday life. But everyday life in first-century Palestine was very different from today, and this has led to some unfortunate misunderstandings of the parables, involving anti-Semitism, misogyny, Christian triumphalism, or just plain bad thinking. After exposing these "problems with parables," Amy-Jill Levine takes the reader back in time to understand how the first (Jewish) hearers of the parables understood them: from their connection to first-century economy and agriculture, to their social customs and morality, to Jewish scriptures and Roman culture. With this revitalized understanding, Levine then interprets these moving stories for the contemporary reader, showing how the parables are not just about Jesus, but are also about us--and still as provocative and challenging as they were two thousand years ago.

About this title

Review:

A professor of New Testament studies at Vanderbilt Divinity School, Levine has spent a lifetime exploring the profound connections and equally profound divisions between Christianity and Judaism and, perhaps more important, between Christians and Jews. --New York Times

From the Back Cover:

Jesus was a skilled storyteller and perceptive teacher who used images from everyday life to stir up interest in his message about the Kingdom of God. But life in first-century Galilee and Judea was very different from our world today, and many traditional interpretations of Jesus's stories not only ignore this difference, but also often import anti-Jewish and sexist views. As eminent Bible scholar Amy-Jill Levine writes in Short Stories by Jesus:

Jesus was requiring that his disciples do more than listen; he was asking them to think as well. What makes the parables mysterious, or difficult, is that they challenge us to look into the hidden aspects of our own values, our own lives. They bring to the surface unasked questions, and they reveal the answers we have always known, but refuse to acknowledge. Religion has been defined as designed to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable. We do well to think of the parables of Jesus as doing the afflicting. Therefore, if we hear a parable and think, "I really like that" or, worse, fail to take any challenge, we are not listening well enough.

In this wise, entertaining, and educational book, Levine explores Jesus's most popular parables, revealing their hidden depths, exposing their misinterpretations, and showing how they can still challenge and provoke us two thousand years later.

About this edition

• Publisher: Bravo Ltd
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0061561010
• ISBN 13: 9780061561016
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 256