The Power of Parables : essays on the comparative study of Jewish and Christian parables / edited and introduced by Annette Merz, Eric Ottenheijm, Marcel Poorthuis ; with the editorial assistance of Nikki Spoelstra.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Part 1 Parables and Realism --

Chapter 1 Genres of Parables: A Cognitive Approach /
Gerd Theissen -- Chapter 2 A Parable of the Lost Temple? Archaeology, Intertextuality, and Rhetoric in Matt 21:33−46 /
Eric Ottenheijm and Boaz Zissu -- Chapter 3 Whom Do You Invite to the Table? Connections between the Dropsical Guest and the Meal Parables in Luke 14:1–24 /
Bart J. Koet -- Chapter 4 Parable and Ritual in Changing Contexts /
Adiel Kadari -- Chapter 6 The Rabbinic Mashal and the Ancient Fable: Prospects for a Changing Perspective /
Justin David Strong.

Part 2 Parables and Application --

Chapter 7 Parables between Folk and Elite /
Tal Ilan -- Chapter 8 Money and Torah in Early Christian and Early Rabbinic Parables /
Lieve M. Teugels -- Chapter 9 On Fields, the Poor Human Condition, and the Advantage of One Teacher: Four Rabbinic Parables in Avot de Rabbi Nathan /
Marcel Poorthuis -- Chapter 10 Honouring Human Agency and Autonomy: Children as Agents in New Testament and Early Rabbinic Parables /
Annette Merz and Albertina Oegema -- Chapter 11 Father’s Child: Fatherhood in the Rabbinic Parables of Song of Songs Rabbah /
Tamar Kadari -- Chapter 12 Why Are Biblical Verses Not Quoted in Parables? A Cultural-Cognitive Explanation /
Ronit Nikolsky -- Chapter 13 Moses’s Prayer and the Nimshal as Scriptural Mosaic /
Arnon Atzmon.

Part 3 Parables and Social Reality --

Chapter 14 Metaphors, Parables, and the Bildfeld /
Petra von Gemünden -- Chapter 15 Jesus’s Parables Create Collective Identity: Parables of Growth through the Lens of Social Identity Theory /
Ruben Zimmermann -- Chapter 16 Host and Guests: Some Features of the Eschatological Banquet in Rabbinic Parables and Gospels /
Reuven Kiperwasser -- Chapter 17 New Testament and Rabbinic Slave Parables at the Intersection between Fiction and Reality /
Catherine Hezser -- Chapter 18 Parables between Realism and Ideology /
Anders Martinsen -- Chapter 19 Building a Fence Around the Vineyard: The Shepherd of Hermas’s Fifth Parable in Light of Comparative Parable Research /
Martijn J. Stoutjesdijk -- Chapter 20 The Land of Israel as Diasporic Topos in Rabbinic Parables /
Constanza Cordoni -- Index of Ancient Sources -- Index of Modern Authors -- Index of Names and Subjects.

"The Power of Parables documents the surprising ways in which Jewish and Christian parables bridge religion with daily life. This 2019 conference volume rediscovers the original power of parables to shock and affect their audience, which has since been reduced by centuries of preaching and repetition. Not only do parables enhance the perspective on Scripture or the kingdom of heaven, they also change the sensory regime of the audience in perceiving the outer world. The theological differences in their applications appear secondary in view of their powerful rhetoric and suggest a shared genre"--