Winner of the 2009 Christianity Today Award for Biblical Studies, Stories with Intent offers pastors and students a comprehensive and accessible guide to Jesus' parables. Klyne
Winner of the 2009 Christianity Today Award for Biblical Studies, Stories with Intent offers pastors and students a comprehensive and accessible guide to Jesus' parables. Klyne Snodgrass explores in vivid detail the historical context in which these stories were told, the part they played in Jesus' overall message, and the ways in which they have been interpreted in the church and the academy.
Snodgrass begins by surveying the primary issues in parables interpretation and providing an overview of other parables—often neglected in the discussion—from the Old Testament, Jewish writings, and the Greco-Roman world. He then groups the more important parables of Jesus thematically and offers a comprehensive treatment of each, exploring both background and significance for today. This tenth anniversary edition includes a substantial new chapter that surveys developments in the interpretation of parables since the book's original 2008 publication.
PRAISE FOR THE FIRST EDITION
— Graham Stanton
“Simply a stunning achievement. . . . Scholar and student alike will appreciate its admirable clarity and its numerous fresh suggestions. This wide-ranging book has no rival: it will be the book on the parables for the next decade and beyond.”
— Arland J. Hultgren
“Convinced that the parables are the most certain avenue for access to Jesus’ teaching, Klyne Snodgrass analyzes all of them with skill, care, and imagination. . . . No one has located the parables as clearly and forcefully within the prophetic tradition of Israel, thereby providing a new approach to their vitality.”
— Darrell Bock
“Bravo! Stories with Intent is the culmination of Klyne Snodgrass’s lifetime of reflection on the parables. . . . Here is a book with intent, and it succeeds exceptionally well in opening up a key dimension of Jesus’ ministry and teaching.”
— Religious Studies Review
“A notable achievement . . . deserves a place on the shelf of every serious interpreter of the parables.”
— Evangelical Quarterly
“This fresh look at Jesus’ parables is timely. Snodgrass has written a special book — it is at once comprehensive, accessible, reliable, engaging, and very useful. . . . A rich resource indeed.”
— Expository Times
“An insightful and comprehensive treatment . . . certain to become a landmark study in parable research.”
— Theological Studies
“Stories with Intent is Snodgrass’s magnum opus, the product of thirty-five years of New Testament research and teaching. It is, as its subtitle claims, comprehensive.”
— Currents in Theology & Mission
“This is a rich resource for preaching and adult education. One will not exhaust its resources in a lifetime of parable study.”
— Journal of Theological Studies
“Probably few books that claim the description ‘comprehensive’ live up to the accolade. Snodgrass’s magnum opus on Jesus’ parables, however, is surely as close to an authoritative reference work on the parables as we shall see for years to come.”
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Klyne R. Snodgrass is professor emeritus of New Testament at North Park Theological Seminary, Chicago, Illinois. His previous books include The Parable of the Wicked Tenants, Between Two Truths: Living with Biblical Tensions, and the NIV Application Commentary volume on Ephesians.
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