Stories with Intent: A Comprehensive Guide to the Parables of Jesus - Hardcover

Snodgrass, Klyne R.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0802842410 ISBN 13: 9780802842411

Publisher: Eerdmans, 2008

Synopsis

Stories with Intent offers pastors and students an accessible and comprehensive guide to Jesus' parables. Klyne Snodgrass explores in vivid detail the context in which these stories were told, the purpose they had in Jesus' message, and the ways they have been interpreted by the church and modern scholarship. While holding a consciously evangelical approach, Snodgrass deals throughout with a broad spectrum of opinions and interpretations.

He begins by surveying the primary issues in parables interpretation. Offering both a new, more functional classification system for Jesus' parables and guidelines for interpreting them, he provides an overview of other parables -- often neglected in the discussion -- from the Old Testament, Jewish writings, and the Greco-Roman world. The remaining chapters group the longer and more important parables of Jesus thematically and give a comprehensive treatment of each, including background and significance for today.
 

About this title

About the Author

Klyne R. Snodgrass is professor emeritus of New Testament at North Park Theological Seminary, Chicago, Illinois. His previous books include The Parable of the Wicked Tenants, Between Two Truths: Living with Biblical Tensions, and the NIV Application Commentary volume on Ephesians.

Review

Christianity Today, Winner, Biblical Studies (2009)

CHOICE
"This book will become an academic standard for the study of parables and Jesus. Essential. (Four Stars)."

Graham Stanton
— University of Cambridge
"This book is a simply stunning achievement. Klyne Snodgrass discusses Jesus' parables with theological sensitivity, with careful attention to comparable Jewish and Greco-Roman traditions, and in dialogue with the mountain of secondary literature. Scholar and student alike will appreciate its admirable clarity and its numerous fresh suggestions. This wide-ranging book has no rival: it will bethe book on the parables for the next decade and beyond."

Arland J. Hultgren
— Luther Seminary
"Convinced that the parables are the most certain avenue for access to Jesus' teaching, Klyne Snodgrass analyzes all of them with skill, care, and imagination. As a seasoned teacher and scholar, he outlines steps for the interpreter to follow, provides historical and cultural background materials, and engages the parables theologically. No one has located the parables as clearly and forcefully within the prophetic tradition of Israel, thereby providing a new approach to their vitality."

Darrell Bock
— Dallas Theological Seminary
"Bravo! Stories with Intent is the culmination of Klyne Snodgrass's lifetime of reflection on the parables. It shows a wealth of discernment in the clarity of its presentation, the soundness of its reasoning, the choice of citation and parallels, and the care of its argument. No study of the parables is as crisply structured as it answers the questions readers often raise about these stories. Here is a book with intent, and it succeeds exceptionally well in opening up a key dimension of Jesus' ministry and teaching."

Charles H. Talbert
— Baylor University
"I have been looking for a book like this on the parables all my career. I celebrate its appearance."

William H. Willimon
— Bishop, North Alabama Conference, United Methodist Church
"Here in one volume is the latest and best interpretation of the parables of Jesus. This book is sure to be received as a fine resource for engaging proclamation of the parables."

John Painter
— St. Mark's School of Theology, Charles Sturt University
"In Stories with Intent Klyne Snodgrass has fulfilled his promise of a comprehensive guide to the parables of Jesus. . . Whatever angle the reader brings to the study of the parables, this book brings rich resources to illuminate that study. It is necessary reading for anyone interested in the parables and teaching of Jesus."

Martin Hengel
— University of Tübingen
"Stories with Intent is a very helpful and inspiring book, written for pastors and scholars, for students of the Bible, and for laypeople interested in the teaching of Jesus. It contains an abundance of well-arranged valuable information about the history of research and the Old Testament, Jewish, Greco-Roman, and social backgrounds of the parables, at the same time leading readers to the center of Jesus' teaching. A wonderful book."

Expository Times
“Snodgrass has written a major study of the parables which focuses on their form, purpose, interpretation and theology. . . . This is an insightful and comprehensive treatment which is certain to become a landmark study in parable research.”
 
Theological Studies
“Stories with Intent is Snodgrass’s magnum opus, the product of 35 years of NT research and teaching. It is, as its subtitle claims, comprehensive.”
 
Religious Studies Review
“A notable achievement and [it] deserves a place on the shelf of every serious interpreter of the parables.”
 
Evangelical Quarterly
“This fresh look at Jesus’ parables is timely. Snodgrass has written a special book — it is at once comprehensive, accessible, reliable, engaging and very useful. . . . A rich resource indeed.”
 
Trinity Journal
“It is impossible to read Stories with Intent without learning new details about the ancient world, without being guided into more nuanced understandings of Jesus’ message, and without being challenged to engage the church and the world today with Jesus’ message of God’s kingdom which became a reality with Jesus’ life and message.”
 
Journal for the Study of the New Testament
“There is little doubt that Stories with Intent is sure to become a valuable resource for all who study the parables of Jesus.”
 
Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
“An impressive and commendable piece of work that will hopefully encourage pastors, teachers, and students to engage the parables in the context of Jesus and further to apply them responsibly to their own contemporary contexts”
 
Theology
“Klyne Snodgrass is on to a winner. And let it be said without more ado, this book is a fine achievement, careful about detail, and comprehensive (one might almost say encyclopaedic) in its coverage of everything that everybody who is anybody in the study of the Gospels has written.”
 
Currents in Theology & Mission
“This is a rich resource for preaching and adult education. One will not exhaust its resources in a lifetime of parable study.”
 
Journal of Theological Studies
“Probably few books that claim the description ‘comprehensive’ live up to the accolade. Professor Snodgrass’s magnum opus on Jesus’ parables, however, is surely as close to an authoritative reference work on the parables as we shall see for years to come.”
 

Edition details

• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0802842410
• ISBN 13: 9780802842411
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 864