I am spending the weekend with John Bunyan, as it were. I have written the section about his life and am working on his overall view and use of the parables. Then I will move on to specific examples of his he uses and interprets parables. So what should I use for those representative examples?
The most obvious choice is Pilgrim's Progress. That's what I used in my James Through the Centuries in several places, and I could discuss Bunyan's use of the Prodigal Son parable in that classic work.
I have decided to go elsewhere for examples, though. The book should include important (and famous) examples throughout history of receptions of parables. I also strive, though, to include important examples from voices that are usually not heard, voices that are undeservedly underrepresented. And, of course, I want to include discussions that are intrinsically interesting. In addition, though, I want to include examples from "famous" people that usually aren't discussed.
So for Bunyan, instead of writing about Pilgrim's Progress, I intend to discuss three other works that will not be familiar to most people: (1) The Barren Fig Tree; (2) A Discourse upon the Pharisee and the Publicane (not a typo); and (3) A Few Sighs from Hell (about the Rich Man and Lazarus parable).
That's the plan, but we'll see what happens after I work through all those writings carefully. Perhaps I will also include a brief summary paragraph about Pilgrim's Progress, though, since it is not as well-known as it used to be.
A blog by Dr. David B. Gowler (Oxford College of Emory University) about the reception history of the parables of Jesus. It includes reflections on issues from three of my books on the parables: What are They Saying about the Parables? (Paulist), The Parables after Jesus (Baylor), Howard Thurman: Sermons on the Parables (Orbis).
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