6 A BIBLICAL UNDERSTANDING OF CYCLES OF CONTROL AND RELEASE
6.2 Understanding Biblical Parables
6.2.1 Classifications
6.2 Understanding Biblical Parables
6.2.1 Classifications
In biblical studies the word parable has at least three different uses.329 In its widest sense the word is used in the biblical meaning of παραβολη which appears in the New Testament fifty times and is used to describe any comparative saying which intends to stimulate thought (e.g. proverbs such as 'Physician, heal yourself' (Luke 4:23), a riddle like 'How can Satan cast out Satan' (Mark 3:23), a comparison (Matt 13:33), a contrast (Luke 18:1-‐8) and both simple (Luke 13:6-‐9) and complex stories (Matt 22:1-‐14). The Hebrew word mashal is usually translated with
παραβολη in the LXX and is used even more broadly in the Old Testament: mashal can be used for a taunt, a prophetic oracle or a byword. A mashal is any dark
329 following the classification of Snodgrass, Klyne, Stories with Intent : a Comprehensive Guide to the Parables of Jesus (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2008), 10.
saying intended to stimulate thought. Therefore Gerhardson labels almost all sayings of Jesus as meshalim.330
In a more restricted sense parable can refer to any analogy. Finally, the most restrictive understanding of parable follows Adolf Jülicher and distinguishes parable (Gleichniserzählung) from similitude (Gleichnis), example story
(Beispielerzählung) and allegory (Allegorie). There is some confusion as, following this more restricted definition, similitudes, example stories and allegories are not counted as parables whereas under the first definition those are included. It is also debatable whether allegory and example stories are legitimate categories, what qualifies as a similitude and whether it is always possible to distinguish between similitudes and parables.
The ambiguity of classification is reflected in the difficulty of exactly defining parables. Starting from the word παραβαλλω which literally means 'to throw alongside' or in seaman's speech to 'come near by ship' or to 'cross over', parables have often been narrowly described as illustrations, as 'earthly stories with
heavenly meanings'.331 Other common definitions are often equally too narrow to apply to all parables or are necessarily imprecise. They are more than illustrations and they are not only concerned with the future heavenly kingdom, but directed to life on this earth. Various definitions restrict parables to being narratives (not all of them are), metaphors or similes (they are more than that), describe them as
'arresting the hearer by its vividness or strangeness, and leaving the mind in
330 Gerhardsson, Birger, 'The narrative Meshalim in the Old Testament Books and in the Synoptic Gospels,' in To Touch the Text : Biblical and Related Studies in Honor of Joseph A. Fitzmyer SJ, ed.
Joseph A. Fitzmyer, et al. (New York: Crossroad, 1989), 788.
331 Snodgrass, Stories with Intent, 3.
sufficient doubt about its precise application to tease it into active thought'332 (though some of them are neither and leave no doubt at all).333 To include all sorts of different parables one needs to resort to definitions of a much more general nature: Theon's definition of fable or μυθος as a 'fictitious saying picturing truth'334 is certainly true for parables, but also true for many different kinds of literature. Snodgrass reverts to modern poetry to grasp the different dimensions of parables, describing them as 'imaginary gardens with real toads in them'.335
The concept of indirect communication developed by Søren Kierkegaard is helpful here. Direct communication is necessary for conveying information, whereas learning or understanding is more than receiving information, especially if the addressees do not see the need for changing their understanding. Indirect
communication intends to overcome barriers to understanding by 'deceiving the hearer into the truth'.336
They are stories with an intent, analogies through which one is enabled to see truth. […] A parable’s ultimate aim is to awaken insight, stimulate the conscience, and move to action. They are used by those who are trying to get God’s people to stop, reconsider their ways, and change their behaviour.
Biblical parables reveal the kind of God that God is and how God acts, and they show what humanity is and what humanity should and may become.337
332 Dodd, C. H., The Parables of the Kingdom (London: Nisbet, 1936), 16.
333 For a wider discussion of different definitions and classifications see Snodgrass, Stories with Intent, 7.
334 Progymnasmata 1.21; 4.2 (µψτηοσ εστι λογοσ πσευδησ εικονιζον αλετηειαν), quoted from Snodgrass, Stories with Intent, 582, footnote 28.
335 derived from Marianne Moore's description of poetry. Quoted from Snodgrass, Stories with Intent, 582, footnote 29.
336 Kierkegaard, Søren Aabje et al., Søren Kierkegaard's Journals and Papers, ed. Howard V. Hong, et al. (London: Bloomington, 1967), 288.
337 Snodgrass, Stories with Intent, 8.
However, the intention of the author to convince and persuade is not the sole reason why analogy and indirect communication are used. Divine truths or mysteries are necessarily expressed in parables – poetic language is not a way to darken otherwise plain truth but a handle to understand something which is not expressible in the same density and complexity via direct communication.
Conveying truth about God and his kingdom is necessarily expressed through analogy -‐ Jesus’ parables are handles for understanding his teaching on the kingdom. It is possible to explain a μυθος, an archetype or divine truth, but there remains an inexplicable mystery that is impossible to grasp in its entirety via direct communication – poetry and analogy are necessary to express this.
An allegory can always be translated into a text that can be understood by itself; once this better text has been made out, the allegory falls away like a useless garment; what the allegory showed, while concealing it, can be said in a direct discourse that replaces the allegory. By its triple function of concrete universality, temporal orientation, and finally ontological exploration, the myth has a way of revealing things that is not reducible from a language in cipher to a clear language. 338