A high-water mark of postwar German literature, a profoundly skeptical meditation on the fragility of human communities and the pitfalls and contradictions of making art. A knocking on the barn door drags us out of our sleep. No, the knocking isn't inside us, it's outside, where the other people are. With that, six blind beggars--ragged, profane, irascible--find themselves waking to yet another grim day in the dark. Today, however, something is different. Today these men have an appointment with a painter: they have been hired as models, to pose for Pieter Bruegel's grotesque masterpiece-in-the-making. With tremendous verbal ingenuity and black humor, Gert Hofmann's novel follows this tattered sextet's shambling progress across a landscape in 16th century Flanders, peopled by half-heard voices and unseen dangers, towards their ultimate encounter with the great, capricious artist, and (perhaps) their own immortality.

The NIV is the world's best-selling modern translation, with over 150 million copies in print since its first full publication in 1978. This highly accurate and smooth-reading version of the Bible in modern English has the largest library of printed and electronic support material of any modern translation.

Ruth Christa Mathieson’s unique reading of Matthew’s parable of the royal wedding feast (Matt 22:1–14), which concludes with the king’s demand that one of the guests be bound and cast out into the outer darkness, focuses on the means of the underdressed guest’s expulsion. Using sociorhetorical interpretation, Mathieson draws the parable into conversation with early Jewish narratives of the angel Raphael binding hands and feet (1 Enoch; Tobit) and the protocol for expelling individuals from the community in Matt 18. She asserts that readers are invited to consider if the person who is bound and cast out is a danger to the little ones of the community of faith unless removed and restrained.

This thesis seeks to demonstrate the authenticity (as dominical teaching) of the parable of the darnel (Mt 13:24-30) and its interpretation (Mt 13:36-43). The interpretation in particular is almost universally regarded as non-dominical, notably by J Jeremias and his followers. My thesis argues that the whole of Mt 13:36-43 (and Mt 13:24-30) should be seen as dominical. The 'introduction' gives a brief survey of parabolic studies, and outlines the case against the authenticity of Mt 13:24-30,36-43. Chapter AI defends the authenticity of the parable (Mt 13:24-30). The following chapters do the same for the interpretation (Mt 13:36-43), looking at the 'Son of Man' and related teaching (chapter BI), the 'kingdom of God' (BII), 'righteousness' and 'lawlessness' (BIII), and other motifs (BIV), and finally the question of the coherence of the parable and its interpretation (BV). My approach has been negatively to demonstrate the weakness of the scholarly arguments against authenticity and positively to offer a case for authenticity via (a) a study of background, including special study of the rural Palestinian practices and of relevant Jewish theological ideas, and (b) a careful use of the criterion of multiple attestation which demonstrates that our material is linguistically and theologically coherent with other well-attested Jesus tradition. The originality of the work lies apart from anything else in the fact that a full length defence of the authenticity of Mt 13:24-30,36-43 has not been attempted before. But we have also brought to bear various insights, canvassed in other contexts, but not specifically in connexion with Mt 13:24-30,36-43, e.g. suggesting a background to the Son of Man tradition in Ezekiel and the Similitudes of Enoch, making use of the Old Testament concept of God as farmer, explaining the agricultural background to the parable and interpretation.

Jesus used his parables to teach ordinary persons with mundane concerns about the kingdom of God; and because these simple stories contain universal truth that transcends time and culture, they still strike a powerful chord with us nearly two millennia later. Preaching the Parables provides a gold mine of background material on each of the eighteen parables appearing in Cycle C of the Revised Common Lectionary. Dallas Brauninger brings a fresh, imaginative approach to these familiar texts, probing them to reveal what they tell us about God and inviting further reflection on what they mean for us today. Preaching the Parables is more than just a sermon preparation resource; it's also stimulating reading for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of how God speaks to us through the parables. Modeled on the format of Brauninger's popular Preaching the Miracles series, each chapter in Preaching the Parables includes five sections: - Text -- the entire parable text is reproduced, eliminating the need to flip back and forth to a Bible - What's Happening? -- a synopsis of points of action within the story, defining its movement, conflict, and change or resolution - Spadework -- significant terms are examined through a survey of Hebrew and New Testament writings - Parallel Scripture -- similarities and differences with parallel stories in the other Gospels are highlighted; where the story is unique, parallel words and concepts are examined - Chat Room -- readers are creatively engaged in a variety of imaginary online exchanges, ranging from interviews with parable characters to browsing ideas to self-driven conversations. This permission-giving resource encourages the reader to develop questions for the text. It's the kind of yeast that gives rise to new shades and flavors of meaning. Preaching the Parables nourishes a fresh receptivity to the speaking of the Spirit of God in the lectionary passage and in life. Nancy B. Rohde Interim Pastor, Charlevoix United Church of Christ Charlevoix, Michigan What a refreshingly helpful way to exegete the text. The succinct but substantive "Spadework," "Parallel Scripture," and "Chat Room" sections provide the preacher with an exciting array of ways to understand and give meaning to the parables. Brauninger's writing will afford the reader many "Ahas." Diana Coberly Pastor, First Congregational United Church of Christ Great Bend, Kansas Dallas A. Brauninger, a cum laude graduate of Albion College, received her Master of Divinity degree and an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Chicago Theological Seminary. A full-time writer, she has served churches in Colorado and Nebraska. Brauninger is the recipient of denominational honor for outstanding ministry to persons with disabilities and their families, and she is the editor of That All May Worship And Serve, her denomination's national disabilities ministry newsletter. She and her husband, both ordained ministers in the United Church of Christ, live in Friend, Nebraska.

...no researcher will be able to work efficiently on the parables without Kissinger; and no serious theological library can be without it. --THE EXPOSITORY TIMES