In this splendid introduction to the elusive rhetorical device central to the New Testament picture of Jesus, Charles Hedrick explores the nature of the parable and its history of use. In part one, he asks basic questions such as "What is a parable?" "Is Jesus really the author of the parables?" and "What does a parable mean?" and then reviews a range of sources--from Aesop's fables to modern New Testament scholarship--to answer them. In part two, he surveys the various ways the parables have been approached in literary criticism throughout history, giving specific examples of each method and delineating their strengths and weaknesses.
