Abstract
R
In the opening chapter, after exploring various literary forms that a parable can take and the function or effect of parables on those who hear them, Lischer examines how Jesus’s parables relate to his proclamation of the kingdom. He considers the parables of Jesus in relationship to Old Testament and rabbinic parables and asserts the distinctiveness of Jesus’s parables. For this reviewer, there is more kinship with Old Testament and rabbinic parables than Lischer allows. He then classifies the parables by theological content, literary form, and social setting. This kind of categorization seems less helpful, given the aims of this book, for as Lischer notes, “the elaborate classifications themselves . . . which are common to virtually every book on the parables of Jesus—are so easily manipulated that they prove less than helpful to the average interpreter” (p. 32). So why include them?
In the second chapter, Lischer outlines four theories for reading the parables: (1) parables obscure the truth; (2) parables teach many truths; (3) parables teach one truth; and (4) parables undermine “the truth.” While he gives an accurate description of each approach, readers would benefit from more evaluative comments.
In the third chapter, Lischer “reads with” the Synoptic evangelists, each in turn, pointing out discrepancies in the transmission of the tradition, while seeking unity “that acknowledges the authority of a common Scripture” (p. 69). He focuses on Mark’s eschatological nature, Matthew as ecclesiological and didactic, and Luke’s universality. His primary lens is that of homiletician, not exegete. This is evident when the chapter concludes with this admonition: “While it is always good homiletical advice to preach Luke’s or Matthew’s or Mark’s narrative and to avoid the mistake of harmonization, it is even more important to preach Jesus crucified and risen from the dead” (p. 111). Lischer is less interested in historical or exegetical questions such as “Did it happen?” or “Did he really say that?” than in approaching the parables as an artist: “You’ve got great material. Trust it! Preach it!” (p. 111).
The fourth chapter is devoted to “Reading the Parables in the Human Condition” and explores the generative nature of the parables. Building on insights of Robert Funk (Jesus as Precursor, ed. William A. Beardslee, SBL Semeia Supplements 2 [Philadelphia: Fortress, 1975], 152), he sees Jesus as a “poet and theological artisan whose language somehow creates the vision of the poets who have come after him” (p. 113). Lischer puts Jesus’s parables in conversation with works of Franz Kafka and Søren Kierkegaard in order to engender greater appreciation of their artistic and religious power. He explores common use of “derangements” (“a disquieting reversal of expectations,” p. 114), “the surreal” (the bizarre), and “occlusions” (obstacles), while pointing out the differences in the message of the parables. For example, occlusions and dead ends in Jesus’s parables do not result in “meaninglessness, angst, and alienation,” as in the existential writings of Kafka (p. 128), but give “poetic intimations of the Great Arrival of God’s grace” (p. 129). A novice preacher might benefit from a bit more direction on how to aim for the latter.
Chapter five, “Reading the Parables with the Poor,” invites the reader to take a stance of commitment to “be with the poor, to listen to them, to participate in their struggles, and where possible to minister to them” (p. 133). The Matthean parable of the Workers in the Vineyard is the springboard for Lischer’s engagement with commentators who do social, political, and economic readings of the parables. While Lischer recognizes that Jesus’s message first took root among the poor, he has little regard for exegetes who neglect its theological and spiritual dimensions. His critique of William Herzog’s book Parables as Subversive Speech: Jesus as Pedagogue of the Oppressed (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1994) is particularly harsh. Luise Schottroff (The Parables of Jesus, trans. Linda M. Maloney [Minneapolis: Fortress, 2006]) fares only slightly better, which is surprising in a chapter that aims to read the parables with the poor. Few New Testament scholars have done such thorough analysis of the social and political dynamics at work in the parables as these two. How is one to arrive at the good news of Jesus’s message without serious analysis of the conditions that made so many people poor, both in first-century Palestine and today? In arguing for a way of reading with the poor that makes us “their partners in hope and action,” Lischer contends that “[t]he best way to read the parables . . . is not in an academic setting or even from a canopied pulpit, but in the context of a Jesus-like ministry” (p. 139). Herein lies the problem: Lischer sets up a false dichotomy between academic analysis of the text and interpretation done in the midst of poor communities. Preachers and ministers at their best will do both. The kind of rigorous social and political analysis done by scholars such as Herzog and Schottroff must go hand in hand with a commitment to walk with real people who are poor. It is the juxtaposition of the two that sets one on the path toward right understanding of the parables and a commitment to live what they demand. Lischer’s instincts are more on target when he observes, “[I]f we focus exclusively on the theological dimension of the good news, how do we guard against the easy spiritualization that overlooks the suffering of the poor?” (p. 142).
At the conclusion of ch. 5, Lischer discusses slaves in the parables of Jesus. He recognizes that when Christians think of themselves of “slaves” of Christ or of God, this is “not identical with the vast and sad array of the world’s slaves, vulnerable people who are subject to a master’s capriciousness and cruelty.” Moreover, he asserts that “obedience to Jesus should never be used as a tool of social, political, or personal oppression” (p. 146). Nonetheless, he offers no objection to the continued use of this metaphor, which can have disastrous results. When Lischer likens slavery to the work of persons who wait tables, do lawn care, and clean homes today, he fails to grasp the despicable nature of slavery, a system in which people are treated as possessions and degraded in unspeakable ways. This reviewer would like to see a firm rejection of this metaphor, rather than an assertion such as: “Just as a slave obeys the master out of duty, with no expectation of reward, it is the duty of disciples to obey Jesus without expectation of reward” (p. 145). Lischer contends that “Jesus and the evangelists do not speak of slaves in order to underwrite the cruel practices of slavery, but to highlight a new and healing form of slavery” (p. 147)—a statement that leaves this reviewer completely stymied. What kind of slavery could ever be healing?
The final chapter, “Reading the Parables with the Saints,” offers six distinct readings of the parable of the Good Samaritan: Augustine reads the story ecclesially and christologically; Julian of Norwich reads it mystically; Luther reads it evangelically; Calvin reads it didactically; Martin Luther King, Jr. reads it morally and prophetically; and the men and women of Solentiname read it politically and eschatologically.
Lischer makes a valuable contribution with this book. He is conversant with the work of biblical scholars as well as homileticians and contemporary poets and writers. In keeping with the aims of the Interpretation Resources series, ministers and preachers are more likely than biblical scholars to find this book helpful. It will not substitute for exegetical works on the parables, but it can augment such studies for the serious preacher.