Allegorical Spectrum of the Parables of Jesus

Wong

• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Year: 2017
• eBook ISBN: 9781532612244
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Literary Criticism
• Index: Literature

Allegory in the parables of Jesus has never been addressed properly. By studying the allegorical features in parables and evaluating some former parable theories, current study hopes to bring insight to the hermeneutics of allegory in the parables of Jesus.

Part I

Allegorical Spectrum

1

An Inspection of Allegory

The rhetorical use of allegory is a peculiar tool. What can be simply stated becomes looped around in expression in allegory. It is probably a more entertaining way to deliver a speech. Jesus used many allegories in his parables but his parables were not all equally allegorical. Before diving into the exploration of rhetorical allegory in the parables of Jesus, this chapter intends to examine what allegory meant in biblical times. Owing to the complexity of parables, an understanding of what parable is brings comprehension to the relationship between rhetorical allegory and parable. The first section will unveil the nature of parable. As the rhetorical use of allegory in the parables of Jesus is constantly confused with allegorical interpretation, clarifying some issues between these two types of allegory will attain a clearer picture of rhetorical allegory. By tracing the history of the rhetorical use of allegory, it helps to refine the meaning of allegory. At the end of this chapter, a differentiation of allegory from other rhetorical devices will finalize a definition of allegory for this study.

Nature of the Parables of Jesus

The nature of the parables of Jesus is very complicated. Although there are several ways to define parables, each method contributes to some understanding as well as carries limitation.

Form

One approach uses form or structure which looks for two layers in parables for definition. However, the descriptions of two levels in parables mean different things among scholars. Amos Wilder sees that there are surface and deep structures in parables.1 He explains that surface and deep layers of parables are not referential but are only the components in a language. Robert Funk rather uses parables as metaphors to penetrate through the ordinary things in life resulting in something surprising, unexpected, or “transference of judgment.”2 Similarly, the two structural levels in parables that Madeleine Boucher searches for are the literal or direct level and the tropical or indirect level in the narrative, which is the idea of trope applied from Quintilian.3 Using the Prodigal Son as an example (Luke 15:11–32), she refers the literal meaning to the returning home of the prodigal son, while the metaphorical meaning to the love of God over repented sinners.4 Likewise, John Sider considers analogy as the basic unit of parables which is indeed a formula used by Adolf Jülicher.5 However, Jülicher applies this type of analogical formula only to a particular group of parables called Gleichnisse, while Sider uses this formula on all parables of Jesus.6 Before Jülicher’s analogical formula, the logic in making comparison occurs in Socrates’ sayings already.7 By treating parables as analogies, parables also appear as two levels where one set of relationship makes comparison with another set of relationship in parallel.

While Wilder explores the surface and deep structure of a parable in a language linguistically, Funk, Boucher, and Sider focus on the referential two layers in a parable either as a metaphor, a trope, or an analogy. No matter what...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Acknowledgments
• Abbreviations
• Introduction
• Part One: Allegorical Spectrum
• Part Two: On Example Stories
• Conclusion
• Bibliography