An Introduction to the Narrative Parables of Jesus by Stephen I. Wright

I am very pleased to be able to offer a free download of the Rev. Dr. Stephen I. Wright’s book on the parables: Tales Jesus Told. This in-copyright work has been digitised and uploaded with the author’s permission.

Stephen Wright explores the purpose and effect of Jesus’ parables by reading them contextually against their cultural, political and social background. Although use of the parables as tools for preaching and teaching has neglected the original impact they had on Jesus’ hearers, it is possible, with our knowledge of life in first-century Palestine, to feel that impact again.

By approaching the parables with an open mind, and reading them as stories that realistically reflect the world of Jesus’ hearers, we are enabled to imagine His aims in the telling of a particular tale and the responses it might have received.

A detailed, engrossing and contextual study of Jesus’ parables, Tales Jesus Told will be of particular interest to students of the New Testament and those who want to connect Jesus’teaching with the modern world.

From the back cover.

Stephen I. Wright, Tales Jesus Told. An Introduction to the Narrative Parables of Jesus. Carlisle: Paternoster Press, 2002. Pbk. ISBN: 1842271882. pp.174. [Click here to visit the download page for this title]

Table of Contents

• Foreword
• Introduction

1. The Parables of Jesus
2. Jesus and First-Century Palestine
3. Rough Terrain: The Sower, Seed and Soils
4. Agricultural Sabotage: The Wheat and the Darnel
5. Dangerous Journey: The Good Samaritan
6. Storage Space: The Rich Fool
7. Fruit Delayed: The Barren Fig Tree
8. Family Threatened: The Prodigal Son
9. Looming Unemployment: The Shrewd Manager
10. Enforced Separation: The Rich Man and Lazarus
11. Godless Officialdom: The Judge and the Widow
12. Worshipping Apart: The Pharisee and the Tax Collector
13. Unpayable Debt: The Unforgiving Servant
14. Seasonal Survival: The Labourers in the Vineyard
15. Murderous Revolt: The Wicked Tenants
16. Vacant Places: The Wedding of the King’s Son
17. The Great Banquet
18. Empty Flasks: The Wise and Foolish Bridesmaids
19. Playing Safe:
    • The Talents
    • The Pounds
20. Tellings of the Tales
21. The Profile of the Teller

• Bibliography

Main image: Parable of the Good Samaritan, as depicted by Jan Wijnants (1670). Source: Wikipedia