The Parables of Jesus

Catalog description

From the Prodigal Son to the Good Samaritan to the Good Shepherd, there are few things as familiar to us as these disarmingly simple yet penetrating narratives that Jesus used to articulate and proclaim the Kingdom of God during his ministry. They were fashioned by him both to awaken insight and to provoke response in his listeners. This course provides a close study of selected parables of Jesus from the Synoptic Gospels. Particular attention is paid to the cultural, biblical and literary contexts of the parables examined, so that students might approach “hearing” the parables as did their first audiences, both grasping their profound insights and responding to their call to conversion. Through doing so, students will come to appreciate the parables as indispensable sources of theology by and about Jesus, and as fonts for authentic Christian spirituality in our own day.