Ricoeur, Rollins, and Roberts on Parables
By Tripp Fuller • May 11th, 2009 • Category: books, pomo, quotes, thinkingTo listen to the Parables of Jesus, it seems to me, is to let one’s imagination be opened to the new possibilities disclosed by the extravagance of these short dramas. If we look at the Parables as at a word at rest first to our imagination rather than our will, we shall not be tempted to reduce them to mere didactic devices, to moralizing allegories. We will let their poetic power display its self within us. - “Listening to the Parables of Jesus” in The Philosophy of Paul Ricoeur: An Anthology of His Work (245).
Deacon Zach Roberts has a new post on the Parables of Jesus over at Baptimergent. It is definitely worth reading, so check it out.
The irony of parables is that most readers assume they vindicate their own cause, when actually they implicate us for our participation in injustice. If Jesus were addressing these parables to whiny emerging Baptists, he would have been at a Wal-Mart McCafe networking with white male denominational executives on a PC.
Peter Rollins, who recently published a book of parables, says:
A parable can be loosely described as a short, fictional narrative that draws the reader ?into an insight concerning some aspect of faith and life. Parables often work best when ?they challenge commonly held attitudes and unmask the poverty of some widely held value. Parables are generally structured in a very simple and stark way, with a narrative that avoids any unnecessary detail that may detract from the central, evocative message.
Tripp Fuller is married to an awesome lady Alecia and has a handsome little baby boy named Elgin Thomas (aka E.T.) and Pebbles, the Schnoodle. He and Alecia are both graduates of Campbell University (where they met), the Divinity School of Wake Forest University and ordained ministers. He is working on his PhD in Philosophy of Religion and Theology at Claremont Graduate University. A few other things he digs are books, cigars, pipes, Shaq, guitar, pirates, fishing, the Counting Crows, and good conversations about Religion and Politics. The podcast is the most time consuming hobby he has ever had besides reading and blogging through Wolfhart Pannenberg's 3 volume systematic theology. Follow Tripp on Twitter | Tripp on Facebook
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I had no idea Ricoeur wrote on parables. I’ll have to check that out.
[...] I am sure it will do the same for you. Below is the set-up from the Deacon Zach who I recently blurbed in a little post on parables. Click on the indented paragraph to hear or download the audio. This sermon was given April 26th [...]