In 1969, I was teaching at two seminaries in
the Chicago area. One of my courses was
on the parables by Jesus and the other was
on the resurrection stories about Jesus. I had
observed that the parabolic stories by Jesus
seemed remarkably similar to the resurrection
stories about Jesus. Were the latter intended as
parables just as much as the former? Had we
been reading parable, presuming history, and
misunderstanding both?
-from The Power of Parable
So begins the quest of renowned Jesus scholar
John Dominic Crossan as he unlocks the true
meanings and purposes of parable in the Bible so
that modern Christians can respond genuinely to
Jesus's call to fully participate in the kingdom of
God. In The Power of Parable, Crossan examines
Jesus's parables and identifies what he calls the
"challenge parable" as Jesus's chosen teaching tool
for gently urging his followers to probe, question,
and debate the ideological absolutes of religious
faith and the presuppositions of social, political,
and economic traditions.
Moving from parables by Jesus to parables about
Jesus, Crossan then presents the four gospels as
"megaparables." By revealing how the gospels are
not reflections of the actual biography of Jesus but
rather (mis)interpretations by the gospel writers
themselves, Crossan reaffirms the power of parables
to challenge and enable us to co-create with
God a world of justice, love, and peace.