The power of parable How fiction by Jesus became fiction about Jesus

The Power of Parable is Crossan (emer., DePaul Univ.) at his provocative best. He argues that Jesus chose a model for his parables that was readily available in the ancient Mediterranean world. He admits that some parables of Jesus are riddle parables or example parables, but he argues quite cogently that the primary category of Jesus's parables was the challenge parable. Crossan takes not just individual stories but entire books as parables. He begins by demonstrating from the Jewish Scriptures that the books of Ruth, Jonah, and Job were challenge parables. Ruth, being presented as the great-grandmother of King David, challenged the command in Deuteronomy that no Moabite or Ammonite was to be admitted to the assembly of the Lord (Deut. 23:3). Jonah challenged all of those Scriptures by dispelling the "evil Assyrian" myth that pervades them. Job challenged the God of the Scriptures. These, along with secular parables, provided a blueprint for Jesus's parables. Crossan then takes the Gospels individually and analyzes them, concluding that some are challenge parables, some attack parables, and some both. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-level undergraduates through researchers/faculty. J. E. Lunceford Georgetown College

*Starred Review* One of the most insightful and thought-provoking exegetes of the New Testament says both the little stories Jesus tells in the extant versions of the Gospel and the big stories of Jesus' life that the four canonic versions tell are parables. While explaining the purposes of parable as riddles to limit group membership, as examples of desirable behavior, as challenges to common practices and understandings, and as attacks on enemies Crossan also establishes the form's tradition in ancient Mediterranean culture by citing parables that both ante- and postdate Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and their contemporaries in early Christian literature. (His discussions of particular parables of Jesus are usually keenly illuminating; e.g., that of the parable of the talents or, as he calls it, the Master's Money.) Crossan thinks the challenge parable is the most characteristic of Jesus as the pacific revolutionary he believes him to have been. When followers took up Jesus' cause and wrote up the Gospel, however, they injected ever greater doses of denouncing their enemies the Jews (though the denouncers were also Jews) to the shame of the church ever since. Crossan's exceptional clarity and methodical presentation combine to make this one of the best, most enthralling Bible-study courses many readers will ever take.--Olson, Ray Copyright 2010 Booklist

Crossan (emeritus, DePaul Univ.; The Greatest Prayer; The Historical Jesus) is one of the most admired as well as one of the most controversial scholars of the New Testament in general and the life of Jesus in particular. His latest book examines the ways that the teaching method of Jesus, who challenged his audiences with the parable, an early form of fiction, came to be applied to Jesus's own life story and argues that we should be wary of applying literal historical standards to texts from the ancient world. VERDICT A fascinating book, written with Crossan's usual lucidity but likely to disturb conservative Christians; a must for most academic and seminary libraries as well as many church groups and pastors. (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.