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| Adolf Jülicher |
Jülicher explores the form and nature of parables and, depending
primarily on Aristotle’s Rhetoric (III.4),
argues that parables are similes not metaphors. Metaphors are indirect enigmatic
speech that say one thing but mean another; they can remain incomprehensible
without proper context and interpretation. An example borrowed from Aristotle, “A
lion rushed on” (der Löwe stürmt los),
can function as a metaphor for “Achilles rushed on,” depending on the context.
Metaphors thus easily and naturally extend into allegories, something that Jülicher
argues Jesus never used.
Similes, though, are direct, simple, and self-explanatory speech,
such as the clear comparison also used by Aristotle: “Achilles rushed on like a
lion” (der löwenmutige Achill stürmt los;
I.52). Jülicher concludes that Jesus used similes and that they develop into
three categories:
1. Similitude (Gleichnis):
A similitude reflects a typical or recurring event in daily life, and it has
two components—the “picture” (image part: Bildhälfte) created by the story and the
“object” (or reality part: Sachhälfte) contained in in the story. The
details of the similitude merely provide a colorful context for the “picture”
the “object/reality” portrayed, and a single point of comparison (the tertium comparationis) connects the two
parts with a “like” or “as.” The similitude’s tertium comparationis challenges its readers with the necessity of
either forming a judgment or making a decision (I.58-80). The saying about the
children playing in the marketplace (Matt. 11:16-19; Luke 7:31-34), the Lost
Sheep and the Lost Coin (Matt. 18:12-14; Luke 15:3-10), and the Growing Seed
(Mark 4:26-29) are all similitudes.
2. Parable or Fable (Parabel;
Fabel): The parable is a fictional
story that has all of the attributes of a similitude and functions the same way.
The “resemblance” in the parable refers readers to an external reality; it is
different from a similitude in that the parable is a story that takes place in
the past. Jülicher considers this form to be a fable, but since fables are
often confused with stories that involve animals, he prefers the term parable
(I.92-111). The majority of Jesus’s parables, Jülicher adds, are fables similar
to the fables attributed to Stesichoros or Aesop. The Workers in the Vineyard
(Matt. 20:1-15), Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32), and Sower (Matt. 13:1-9; Mark 4:1-9;
Luke 8:4-8) are all parables, although the parable of the Sower’s allegorical
interpretation does not stem from Jesus.
3. Example Story (Beispielerzählung):
An example story is also a fictional narrative—like the parable—but it differs
from the similitude and the parable because it actually illustrates the reality/truth
it is meant to demonstrate; it doesn’t just refer to an external reality (I.112-115).
Jülicher only lists four example stories from the Gospels: the Good Samaritan,
Rich Fool, the Rich Man and Lazarus, and the Pharisee and the Publican. The distinctive
feature of this type is that they present examples that are supposed to be
emulated by others. The Good Samaritan, for instance, is an example story,
because it illustrates the moral principle of loving one’s neighbor. God
esteems loving compassion, so even a despised Samaritan demonstrates through
his compassion what it means to be a neighbor in contrast to the priest and
Levite (II.596). Thus all the allegorical interpretations by people like Origen
completely miss the point: The injured man does not symbolize Adam, the
Samaritan does not denote Jesus, the inn does not designate the church,
Jerusalem does not symbolize paradise, and Jericho does not denote “the world.”
Attempts to find symbolism in such elements are doomed to fail because details
like Jerusalem and Jericho are only used to give local color to this example
story. Instead, Jülicher contends, interpreters should focus on the one basic
point of comparison—the neighborly actions of the Samaritan—to understand the
meaning of the parable as Jesus intended it: the compassion we should have for
our fellow human being (II.585-598).
The problem, for Jülicher, is that a parable’s pictorial
elements (Bildhälfte) must
be understood literally (eigentlich), whereas the pictorial elements of
an allegory must be understood figuratively (uneigentlich), and “this
contrast allows no mixing of forms” (I.76). The parables, after they have been
examined and restored to the form taught by Jesus, are “masterpieces of popular
eloquence” that are “wholly unpretentious” and give their readers an
overpowering feeling of the exalted nature of Jesus: “as far as we know,
nothing higher and more perfect has ever been accomplished in this area” (Kümmel
1972: 187).
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