Hear Then the Parable: A Commentary on the Parables of Jesus

This is an innovative, encyclopedic, and methodologically comprehensive work according to the reviews. Building on the work of Adolf Julicher, CH Dodd, and Joacim Jeremias, as well as upon the modern efforts of Robert W Funk, Dan O. Via and John Dominic Crossan, Professor Scott attempts to advance, and correct this tradition of parable interpretation, with an emphassis on the relation of the parables to the mythological vision of the Kingdom of God. The commentary analyzes each parable of Jesus, even those in the Gospel of Thomas, in the present literary context of each Gospel, in its prior development in the oral tradition, and within the ministry of Jesus himself. One major result of Scott's research and study is that is he able to reconstruct an originating structure of each parable, which is presented at the beginning of each parable analysis. He deals first with e redaction of the parable (as it stands in the Gospels). The he analyses how the originating structure affects meaning. Finally, he examines how the story and the kingdom interact so as to produce the 'parabolic effect'. In short, Scott seeks to understand how a text structures meaning and the conditions it sets for its own performance. In so proceeding, Scott pays attention as well to the new influence of the social sciences to highlight the social world of the parables. This influence is reflected in the division to the parables into three major groups based on the social dynamics of the first-century peasant culture. "If you only followed the parables you yourself would become parables and with that rid all of your daily cares." Franz Kafka

Bernard Brandon Scott's Hear Then The Parable is a superb synthesis of where we have come from in terms of literary analysis and where we are going in terms of social analysis.