Have you ever read Augustine’s allegorical interpretation of The Good Samaritan? The Apostle Paul is the Innkeeper? How could Jesus have expected his audience to think of Paul when they hadn’t met him yet? And how would any good Bible reader come to the conclusion that “[t]he two pence are either the two precepts of love, or the promise of this life and of that which is to come”? How are Christians who want to stay true to the Bible supposed to interpret the parables? Is there one meaning? Are there many meanings? Are the parables even authentic?
Craig Blomberg gives us an updated version of his book Interpreting the Parables. Blomberg is a Distinguished Professor of the New Testament at Denver Seminary, and has written a number of commentaries and books on believing the Bible, the reliability of the Gospels, holiness, and possessions. He writes from an evangelical perspective that takes the Bible as historically reliable and true.
Summary
Blomberg argues for an allegorical approach to interpreting the parables. Yet this approach isn’t that of Augustine or other church fathers who took things to the extreme. Here, most parables are boiled down to one, two, or three points, mainly depending on the number of main characters (which at most consists of three main types).
Blomberg introduces his book with two differeing sides of scholarly consensus on parables: One the one side, scholars say allegory should be rejected even though there are small amounts of it in some of Jesus’ parables. On the other side, some scholars say the Gospel parables are more allegorical than many think, and they are usually making more than one point. After summarizing the coming chapters, Blomberg divides his book into two parts.
Part One
Part One covers “Methods and Controversies in Interpreting Parables.” Surprisingly, I found this part to be interesting, though that’s probably because, wanting to be a teacher, I want to know what’s going on in the biblical interpretation world.
Chapter Two gives us the two main approaches of parables as allegory and non-allegory, other contemporary thoughts, and rabbinic parables. Chapter Three shows how Form Criticism (the form of a teaching and its original setting) rose and how scholars used this to interpret the parables. Chapter Four shows how Redaction Criticism (how the Gospel authors edited their works) came to be and how it contributed positively and negatively to the study of the Gospels.
Chapter Five brings new literary and hermeneutical methods to our attention showing how different scholars from the 1960s up to today have interpreted the Gospels with these new methods. Some of these methods include Structuralism, Postmodernism, Marxism, Feminism, and more.
Part Two
Part Two covers the “Meaning and Significance of Individual Parables.” It is longer than Part One, thankfully. Here Blomberg puts his interpretive scheme into play, showing the reader how Jesus does use some measure of allegory in his teaching. Most parables consist of three types of characters: a master, a positive example, a negative example.
Chapter Six interprets simple three-point parables. These are parables with three characters (fitting the three-type role). Blomberg covers the Prodigal Son (Lk 15), the Lost Sheep and Coin (Lk 15), the Two Debtors (Lk 7), the Ten Virgins (Mt 25), and more. In all, ten parables are looked at.
Chapter Seven considers complex three-point parables. These parables have more than three character, but they can generally be boiled down into three types. Blomberg covers the Talents (Mt 25), the Sower (Mk 4), the Good Samaritan (Lk 10), the Wicked Tenants (Mk 12), and more. In all, eight parables are looked at.
Chapter Eight involves looking at two-point and one-point parables such as the Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Lk 18), the Two Builders (Mt 7), the Midnight Friend (Lk 11), the Mustard Seed and the Leaven (Lk 13), and more. In all, over thirteen parables and a few metaphors are looked at.
Chapter Nine gives the reader a theology of the parables: the Kingdom and the Christ. Here Blomberg says that “all of Jesus’ parables revolve around one central theme: the kingdom of God” (411). He covers the theology of the kingdom with it’s reign, its realm, and personal and social transforming power. And we see Christology in the parables. We see how Christ thought of himself as intimately connected with the Father. Jesus is at the center of the kingdom.
Recommended?
The church has been getting a number of books on the parables recently. Pastors shouldn’t neglect Blomberg’s Preaching the Parables, and word on the street says that John MacArthur’s new book Parables should not be passed up. While the last two are aimed at pastors and the church, Blomberg’s volume covers a lot of ground. It is suited for students, teachers, professors, and pastors. It is academic, but Blomberg argues well for a sound, allegorical interpretation of Jesus’ parables. Blomberg avoids the extremes of turning Jesus’ parables into John Bunyan’s Pilgrim Progress (which was written to be an in-depth allegory) and that of turning Jesus’ parables into a one-point punch. There is so much more to the kingdom of God than can be made in one point.
Blomberg says, “The main aim of the parables is to describe the activity of God in Jesus, more particularly so that men many trust in it and become disciples, or else be offended at it” (412-13).
Lagniappe
- Author: Craig L. Blomberg
- Paperback: 463 pages
- Publisher: IVP Academic; 02 edition (July 16, 2012)
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