In eight retellings, Mary Hoffman shows how Jesus used simple parables to convey essential truths to his listeners. The parables include The Lost Sheep, The Good Samaritan, The Prodigal Son, and The House on the Rock.

A collection of the teachings of Ramakrishna, a great saint of India, told in the form of stories and parables.

Whilst it is true that Jesus' parables are timeless, speaking to all people in all ages and cultures, they are essentially Middle Eastern stories set in a culture very different from our own. They really only make sense when understood in their oriental setting. Without seeing them as skilfully crafted oriental stories, we will miss their beauty and the impact of their message. This book sets out to ask the question: How did the original listeners understand the parables when they were first told by Jesus? It does this by setting the stories of Jesus in their cultural background and explaining the parables as they originally intended to be understood.

The Mockingbird Parables takes readers on an inspiring and engaging journey through Harper Lee’s beloved 1960 literary masterpiece, introducing each character through the lens of faith. The enigmatic Boo Radley as an allegorical representation of God, “the divine, mysterious neighbor” who watches over, protects, and longs to know his children personally. The hero, Atticus Finch, as a model of faith, integrity, and even parenting. The main character, Scout Finch, and what she might teach us about the role of women in church and society. The Mockingbird Parables compels us to ask the often-ignored questions: Do we truly love our neighbors? Are we building community? Are we influencing society for the better? By illuminating the parallels between Christian faith and Lee’s masterpiece, The Mockingbird Parables reaffirms the magnitude of a novel perhaps more relevant today than ever before.

The publication of the King James version of the Bible, translated between 1603 and 1611, coincided with an extraordinary flowering of English literature and is universally acknowledged as the greatest influence on English-language literature in history. Now, world-class literary writers introduce the book of the King James Bible in a series of beautifully designed, small-format volumes. The introducers' passionate, provocative, and personal engagements with the spirituality and the language of the text make the Bible come alive as a stunning work of literature and remind us of its overwhelming contemporary relevance.

Retells eight parables, such as the Prodigal Son, the Persistent Widow, and the Good Samaritan, in terms of modern situations. Includes the Biblical version and interpretive text.

The renowned biblical scholar, author of The Misunderstood Jew, and general editor for The Jewish Annotated New Testament interweaves history and spiritual analysis to explore Jesus’ most popular teaching parables, exposing their misinterpretations and making them lively and relevant for modern readers. Jesus was a skilled storyteller and perceptive teacher who used parables from everyday life to effectively convey his message and meaning. Life in first-century Palestine was very different from our world today, and many traditional interpretations of Jesus’ stories ignore this disparity and have often allowed anti-Semitism and misogyny to color their perspectives. In this wise, entertaining, and educational book, Amy-Jill Levine offers a fresh, timely reinterpretation of Jesus’ narratives. In Short Stories by Jesus, she analyzes these “problems with parables,” taking readers back in time to understand how their original Jewish audience understood them. Levine reveals the parables’ connections to first-century economic and agricultural life, social customs and morality, Jewish scriptures and Roman culture. With this revitalized understanding, she interprets these moving stories for the contemporary reader, showing how the parables are not just about Jesus, but are also about us—and when read rightly, still challenge and provoke us two thousand years later.

The parables of Jesus, including such familiar episodes as "The Good Samaritan" and "The Prodigal Son," are retold as folk tales with the characters depicted as animals.

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.