What do you think?
Rate this book
The Parables of Jesus
Good news for the needy. Bad news for the power brokers. Jesus came into the world announcing a new order where Satan is overthrown and broken relationships are restored. Jesus' most vivid portraits of this new kingdom are found in the parables. David Wenham explores the splendor and subtleties of Jesus' world-changing message, offering a nontechnical but comprehensive look at dozens of Jesus' stories. Bringing them to life by explaining their first-century religious and social setting, Wenham never fails to illumine their significance for today.
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1989
14 people are currently reading
65 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 18, 2022
This book definitely shows its age. While I do appreciate it breaking down several of the parables from the New Testament in the context of Jesus' ministry, I did disagree with some of the larger interpretations and implications. However, I'm no theologian, so I'll keep those to myself. Overall, this book provides a helpful introduction to the parables of Jesus, I just wouldn't take it as an authority on the matter.
August 25, 2020
A highly accessible and informative book on the parables of Jesus. Wenham does a superb job synthesizing the main ideas behind the parables. He thoroughly addresses the meaning through an exegesis of the context and historical and geographical background. I highly recommend it to anyone seeking to understand the meaning behind the parables.
January 27, 2016
This is a very good book on parables that is a nice blend of the inspirational and the scholarly, with more emphasis on the inspirational. Parables are colorful stories and sayings, often with a surprise or a "hook" at the end of them that make them memorable. The author, David Wenham, does a nice job of reviewing the research and theory about parables in the opening chapters and in the Appendixes in the back of the book. All or worth reading. He also, correctly, places the parables in the context of the Kingdom of God, or as he puts it, "Jesus' revolution". So there is a nice scholarly foundation, correctly oriented in the most important than Jesus taught, namely, the Kingdom of God.
From there, Wenham divides the parables into specific categories, such as "Good News for the Poor" and "Bad News for the Establishment." These are logical groupings and allow the reader to make connections between two or three parables along the same theme. For instance, the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin and the Prodigal Son build on one another. In explaining each parable, the author provides the necessary background to make sense of the parable. One good example, in the time of Jesus, a Samaritan would have been a hated person. Just the opposite is true today. The historical background helps us to understand the true meaning of the parable.
All in all, this is a very good guide to the parables of Jesus. As someone with an M.Div., I can affirm that while the author comes from a conservative/evangelical approach in his scholarship, he is within the mainstream and does not lead us into controversial territory. Of course, most of the parables need little scholarship to be understood, just some explanation and historical background. In each case, Wenham gives this to the reader, making the parable intelligible and connecting it to the overall message of Jesus. This is a great introduction to a form of communication that Jesus chose to make a huge part of his preaching and teaching and well worth the time spent reading it.
From there, Wenham divides the parables into specific categories, such as "Good News for the Poor" and "Bad News for the Establishment." These are logical groupings and allow the reader to make connections between two or three parables along the same theme. For instance, the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin and the Prodigal Son build on one another. In explaining each parable, the author provides the necessary background to make sense of the parable. One good example, in the time of Jesus, a Samaritan would have been a hated person. Just the opposite is true today. The historical background helps us to understand the true meaning of the parable.
All in all, this is a very good guide to the parables of Jesus. As someone with an M.Div., I can affirm that while the author comes from a conservative/evangelical approach in his scholarship, he is within the mainstream and does not lead us into controversial territory. Of course, most of the parables need little scholarship to be understood, just some explanation and historical background. In each case, Wenham gives this to the reader, making the parable intelligible and connecting it to the overall message of Jesus. This is a great introduction to a form of communication that Jesus chose to make a huge part of his preaching and teaching and well worth the time spent reading it.
January 12, 2012
"The Parables of Jesus" looks at the cultural and historical background to Jesus' parables to help readers better understand what he was trying to convey. Each chapter discussed a group of similar parables (usually in the same groups as they're found in the gospels). The author gave the cultural background to the parable and how the people of Jesus' time would have understood the point he was making. He also referred to other verses in the Old and New Testaments that have the same theme or which help us to understand the meaning of the parable.
The tone was casual, and his points were easy to understand. This book did help me to better understand the parables, and I thought his points made sense and were insightful. At the end of the book, he had an appendix that contained articles on the reliability of the parables (i.e. how likely they accurately portray what Jesus really said and taught), what a parable actually is and the various ways they have been interpreted through history, and why Jesus taught using parables.
Overall, I'd highly recommend this book to those interested in better understanding the parables or in learning more Bible background information.
The tone was casual, and his points were easy to understand. This book did help me to better understand the parables, and I thought his points made sense and were insightful. At the end of the book, he had an appendix that contained articles on the reliability of the parables (i.e. how likely they accurately portray what Jesus really said and taught), what a parable actually is and the various ways they have been interpreted through history, and why Jesus taught using parables.
Overall, I'd highly recommend this book to those interested in better understanding the parables or in learning more Bible background information.
January 27, 2009
Pretty good book on Jesus' parables. Wenham groups parables from the the synoptic gospels and a couple from John's gospel according to themes. Each chapter presents a new theme on living life in God's kingdom and explores that theme through Jesus's parables. The exegesis of the book is helpful and at points Wenham opened up some passages that were hard for me to understand, particularly Luke 16:1-14.
The overarching theme he sees in Jesus's parables is what he calls "God's revolution," which boils down to how to live in God's kingdom with Christ as King.
Many parts of the book I found to be written in a less than engaging style.
Overall, definitely more helpful than not.
The overarching theme he sees in Jesus's parables is what he calls "God's revolution," which boils down to how to live in God's kingdom with Christ as King.
Many parts of the book I found to be written in a less than engaging style.
Overall, definitely more helpful than not.
February 8, 2017
I wish I had read this book about 20 years ago. It's brilliant. A steady guide to the revolution led by Jesus.
August 30, 2019
Excellent look at Jesus' parables organized thematically.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews