Parables Unplugged: Reading the Lukan Parables in Their Rhetorical Context

For far too long, Lauri Thurn argues, the parables of Jesus have been read either as allegories encoding Christian theologyincluding the theological message of one or another Gospel writeror as tantalizing clues to the authentic voice of Jesus. Thurn proposes instead to read the parables "unplugged" from any assumptions beyond those given in the narrative situation in the text, on the common-sense premise that the very form of the parable works to propose a (sometimes startling) resolution to a particular problem. Thurn applies his method to the parables in Luke with some surprising results involving the Evangelists overall narrative purposes and the discrete purposes of individual parables in supporting the authority of Jesus, proclaiming God's love, exhorting steadfastness, and so on. Eschatological and allegorical readings are equally unlikely, according to Thurn's results. This study is sure to spark learned discussion among scholars, preachers, and students for years to come.

Lauri Thuren is professor of biblical studies in the School of Theology at the University of Eastern Finland in Joensuu. A rhetorical-critical scholar, he received his Masters, licentiate, and PhD in theology fromabo Akademi University in Finland and has made advanced studies at GTU Berkeley and Uppsala University. He has written a number of articles and is the author of The Rhetorical Strategy of 1 Peter (1990), Argument and Theology in 1 Peter (1995), Derhetorizing Paul (2000), and in Finnish, a commentary on the Catholic Epistles.