Interpreting the Parables

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.

Craig L. Blomberg (Ph.D., Aberdeen) is distinguished professor of New Testament at Denver Seminary and the author of The Historical Reliability of the Gospels (revised) and The Historical Reliability of John's Gospel.