Power of Parables

Eric Ottenheijm is Associate Professor of Jewish Studies and Biblical Studies at Utrecht University. Ottenheijm is president of the Compendia Foundation (CRINT Series, Brill), and member of the Editorial Board of Jewish and Christian Perspectives (Brill). His research focusses on rabbinic and Synoptic parables and the Jewish context of the Gospel of Matthew. Marcel Poorthuis is Emeritus Professor in Interreligious Dialogue at Tilburg University. His dissertation (1992, Utrecht) dealt with the French-Jewish philosopher Emmanuel Levinas. He published about Catholicism, Judaism, Buddhism, and philosophy. He is co-editor of the international series Jewish and Christian Perspectives (Brill). His latest book publication is Rituals in interreligious dialogue: bridge or barrier? (Cambridge Scholars 2020). Annette Merz is Professor of New Testament at the Protestant Theological University in Amsterdam and Groningen. Her dissertation (2001, Heidelberg) dealt with the Pastoral Epistles in the New Testament. She has published monographs and articles on the Historical Jesus and the Synoptic tradition on miracles and parables and on the later Pauline tradition, especially on the Pastoral Epistles and the Acts of Paul. Another focus is the reception history of New Testament texts regarding gender and slavery.

• ContentsAbbreviationsContributorsIntroductionEric Ottenheijm, Marcel Poorthuis and Annette MerzPart 1: Parables and Realism1 Genres of Parables: A Cognitive ApproachGerd Theissen2 A Parable of the Lost Temple? Archaeology, Intertextuality, and Rhetoric in Matt 21:33−46Eric Ottenheijm and Boaz Zissu3 Whom Do You Invite to the Table? Connections between the Dropsical Guest and the Meal Parables in Luke 14:1–24Bart J. Koet4 Parable and Ritual in Changing ContextsAdiel Kadari5 Sorting out “New and Old” (Matt 13:52) as Changing Money: Rabbinic and Synoptic Parables on Scriptural KnowledgeEric Ottenheijm6 The Rabbinic Mashal and the Ancient Fable: Prospects for a Changing PerspectiveJustin David StrongPart 2: Parables and Application7 Parables between Folk and EliteTal Ilan8 Money and Torah in Early Christian and Early Rabbinic ParablesLieve M. Teugels9 On Fields, the Poor Human Condition, and the Advantage of One Teacher: Four Rabbinic Parables in Avot de Rabbi NathanMarcel Poorthuis10 Honouring Human Agency and Autonomy: Children as Agents in New Testament and Early Rabbinic ParablesAnnette Merz and Albertina Oegema11 Father’s Child: Fatherhood in the Rabbinic Parables of Song of Songs RabbahTamar Kadari12 Why Are Biblical Verses Not Quoted in Parables? A Cultural-Cognitive ExplanationRonit Nikolsky13 Moses’s Prayer and the Nimshal as Scriptural MosaicArnon AtzmonPart 3: Parables and Social Reality14 Metaphors, Parables, and the BildfeldPetra von Gemünden15 Jesus’s Parables Create Collective Identity: Parables of Growth through the Lens of Social Identity TheoryRuben Zimmermann16 Host and Guests: Some Features of the Eschatological Banquet in Rabbinic Parables and GospelsReuven Kiperwasser17 New Testament and Rabbinic Slave Parables at the Intersection between Fiction and RealityCatherine Hezser18 Parables between Realism and IdeologyAnders Martinsen19 Building a Fence Around the Vineyard: The Shepherd of Hermas’s Fifth Parable in Light of Comparative Parable ResearchMartijn J. Stoutjesdijk20 The Land of Israel as Diasporic Topos in Rabbinic ParablesConstanza CordoniIndex of Ancient SourcesIndex of Modern AuthorsIndex of Names and Subjects