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Genre-Sensitive Expository Preaching of
Parables
Dr. Jeffrey Arthurs, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (SBC preaching conference, July 2014)
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1 Timothy 4:16
Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching.
Persist in this, for by doing so, you will save both
yourself and your hearers.
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ReviewGod has inspired both the content
and the genre of biblical texts.Every genre has its own literary
form, and each form produces a set of rhetorical effects.For example, proverbs are short, thus they lodge in memory and prompt the reader to ponder.
Expository preaching exegetes both the content and the form of the text, so that . . .
The sermon says what God said in the text and does what God does through the text.
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Genre-Sensitive Expository Preaching of
Parables
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MATTHEW MARK LUKE
The Heart of Jesus’ Teaching
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With these beguiling stories and analogies, our
Lord inaugurated the kingdom.
Overview:• Definition of “Parable”
• Literary/rhetorical Characteristics of Parables
• Preaching Parables
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What IS a Parable?
• An “earthly story with heavenly meaning.”
• C.H. Dodd: “At its simplest the parable is a metaphor or simile drawn from nature or common life, arresting the hearer by its vividness or strangeness, and leaving the mind in sufficient doubt about its precise application to tease it into active thought.”
C.H. Dodd, The Parables of the Kingdom, rev. ed. (New York: Scribner’s, 1961), 5.
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What IS a Parable?
• Leland Ryken: “Realistic stories, simple in construction and didactic in purpose, that convey religious truth and in which the details often have a significance beyond their literal narrative meaning.”
Leland Ryken, How to Read the Bible as Literature (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1984), 202.
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Literary/Rhetorical Characteristics of Parables
Analogy Parables “throw one thing
beside another”; that is, they compare two things which are unlike.
Seed = word of GodSower = Jesus/preacherSoils = human hearts
Thus, parables use “code language” which must be “cracked.”
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Sender’s Field of
Experience
Kingdom of God
Receiver’s Field of
Experience
Yeast
Parables as Analogy (the kingdom of heaven is like . . .)
Teaching/Illustration Occurs Here
The Kingdom Spreads Silently and Pervasively
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The Rhetoric of Analogy
• Analogy demands that the audience collaborate to construct the speaker’s meaning.
• As a “code” to be cracked, parables unify insiders.
• Example: “The Black Hole.”
Discussion: – what is being compared to what?– What is the film’s big idea?
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Literary/Rhetorical Characteristics of Parables
• Analogy• Realism
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• Identification: listeners put themselves into the story and are caught up in it.
• Imagination: listeners use the whole brain including affect.
• Infiltration: Listeners are disarmed and then they find they are standing on a landmine.
The Rhetoric of Realism
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Literary/Rhetorical Characteristics of Parables• Analogy• Realism• Folk Stories.
– Short– Formulaic plots– Stock characters
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The Rhetoric of Short Folk Stories
• Parables (once again) disarm resistance.
• Parables lodge in memory.
• Parables polarize responses.
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Genre-Sensitive Expository Preaching of Parables
Exegesis: Be careful of too much imagination—the
excesses of allegorical interpretation.
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Augustine’s Allegorical Interpretation of the Good Samaritan
Text InterpretationA “certain man”… Adam
Thieves… the devil and demons
Stripped him… took his immortality
Beat him… tempted him to sin
The priest and the Levite… the ministry of the OT
which does nothing for Adam
The Good Samaritan… Christ
Binds wounds with oil and wine… restrains sin with hope and
an exhortation to work with a
fervent spirit
The inn… the Church
The innkeeper… the Apostle Paul
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How to Preach Parables with Genre Sensitivity
Exegesis: Be careful of too much imagination—the
excesses of allegorical interpretation. Take special note of cultural context. Take special note of literary context (end
stress, lead-in statements, and placement of the parable in the flow of the gospel story.)
Homiletics: “Translate” with Recent Culture. Don’t be Afraid to Make a Point.
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How explicitly do these parables from Luke explain their point?
Wise and foolish builders (6:46-49)
Friend at midnight (11:5-10)Barren tree (13:6-9)Shrewd steward (16:1-9)Persistent widow (18:1-8)Tax collector and Pharisee (18:9-
14)Ten minas (19:11-26)
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Th
e P
ara
ble
of
Don
Rab
bit
(Don
ald
Mil
ler,
Blu
e L
ike J
azz
)
Don Rabbit went to Stumpton Coffee every
morning
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One morning at Stumpton, Don Rabbit
saw Sexy Carrot
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And Don Rabbit decided to chase Sexy Carrot
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But Sexy Carrot was very fast.
Stop!
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And Don Rabbit chased Sexy Carrot all over
Oregon.
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And all over America, all the way to New York
City.
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And Don Rabbit chased Sexy Carrot all the way
to the Moon.
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And Don Rabbit was very, very, tired.
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But with one last burst of strength, Don Rabbit lunged at Sexy Carrot.
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And Don Rabbit caught Sexy Carrot.
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And the moral of the story is that if you work hard, stay focused, and never give up, you will
eventually get what you want in life.
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Unfortunately, shortly after the story was told, Don Rabbit choked on the
carrot and died. So the second moral of the story is:
Sometimes the things we want most in life are the things that will kill us.
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How to Preach Parables with Genre Sensitivity
Exegesis: Be careful of too much imagination—the
excesses of allegorical interpretation. Take special note of cultural context. Take special note of literary context.
Homiletics: “Translate” with Recent Culture. Don’t be Afraid to Make a Point. Don’t be Afraid to NOT make your point
explicit.
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“When everything gets answered, it’s fake. The mystery is the truth.”
Actor Sean Penn
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How to Preach Parables with Genre Sensitivity
Exegesis: Be careful of too much imagination—the
excesses of allegorical interpretation. Take special note of cultural context. Take special note of literary context.
Homiletics: “Translate” with Recent Culture. Don’t be Afraid to Make a Point. Don’t be Afraid to NOT make your point
explicit. Tell narratives narratively.
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Sample Parables
Short film: “The Black Hole.” Tolstoy: “How Much Land Does a Man
Need?” Barton: “The Doughnut.” Barton: “The Crossing Tender.” Arthurs: Chicken Chef. Arthurs: Falling Into a Pit. Arthurs: The Monk and the Bird Short film: “Dog.” Robinson: “The Church of Christ in God
Chicken Restaurant.”
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1 Timothy 4:16
Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching.
Persist in this, for by doing so, you will save both
yourself and your hearers.