Encountering the Parables in Contexts Old and New (The Library of New Testament Studies)

The contributors to this book pursue three important lines of inquiry into parable study, in order to illustrate how these lessons have been received throughout the millennia. The contributors consider not only the historical and material world of the parables’ composition, and focusing on the social, political, economic, and material reality of that world, but also seek to connect how the parables may have been seen and heard in ancient contexts with how they have been, and continue to be, seen and heard. Intentionally allowing for a “bounded openness” of approach and interpretation, these essays explore numerous contexts, encounters and responses. Examining topics ranging from ancient harvest imagery and dependency relations to contemporary experience with the narratives and lessons of the parables, this volume seeks to link those very real ancient contexts with our own varied modern contexts.

Thomas E. Goud is Associate Professor of Classical and Early Christian Studies at the University of New Brunswick in Saint John, Canada, and co-chair of the Synoptic Gospels section of the international meeting of SBL.

Chris Keith is Research Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society, Norway. He is the author of The Pericope Adulterae, the Gospel of John and the Literacy of Jesus, a winner of the 2010 John Templeton Award for Theological Promise, and Jesus' Literacy: Scribal Culture and the Teacher from Galilee. He is also the co-editor of Jesus among Friends and Enemies: A Historical and Literary Introduction to Jesus in the Gospels, and was recently named a 2012 Society of Biblical Literature Regional Scholar.

J.R.C. Cousland is Associate Professor in the Department of Classical, Near Eastern and Religious Studies at the University of British Columbia, Canada.

John Harrison is Professor of New Testament and Ministry at Oklahoma Christian University, USA, and co-chair of the Synoptic Gospels section of the international meeting of SBL.