Offers a new understanding of twelve of Jesus' parables by viewing them through the eyes of a minor or unsympathetic character. Chapter titles: When the Good Samaritan Is Bad News; God Called a Party, but Nobody Came; The Timid Soul; The Seasons of the Soil; The Sad Story of the Embarrassed Farmers; Love Always Wins...Sometimes; Why Doesn't God Like Religious People?; Pardon My Insistence; The Prodigal Who Stayed at Home; A Case for the Un-hired Hand; Moses and the Fig Tree; I Wish I Could Sell You More. 12 Sessions, with a leader's guide.
J. Ellsworth Kalas has been part of the faculty of Asbury Theological Seminary since 1993, after thirty-eight years as a United Methodist pastor and five years in evangelism with the World Methodist Council. He has been a presenter on DISCIPLE videos and is the author of more than thirty books, including the popular Back Side series as well as the Christian Believer study.