The fables of Jesus in the gospel of Luke : : a new foundation for the study of parables / / Justin David Strong.

• Superior document: Studies in cultural contexts of the Bible ; Volume 5
• VerfasserIn: Strong, Justin David,
• Place / Publishing House: Paderborn, Germany : : Brill :, Ferdinand Schöningh,, [2021]; ©2021
• Year of Publication: 2021
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Language: English
• Series: Studies in cultural contexts of the Bible ; Volume 5.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource.

The Fables of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke introduces the world of the ancient fable to biblical scholarship and argues that Jesus's parables in Luke's gospel belong to the ancient fable tradition.Jesus is regarded as the first figure in history to use the parable genre with any regularity-a remarkable historical curiosity that serves as the foundation for many assumptions in New Testament scholarship. The Fables of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke challenges this consensus, situating the parables within a literary context unknown to biblical scholarship: the ancient fable. After introducing the ancient fable, the "parables" of Jesus in Luke's gospel are used as a testing ground to demon - strate that they are identical to first-century fables. This challenges many conven - tional assumptions about parables, Luke's gospel, and the relationship of Jesus to the storytelling traditions of the Mediterranean world. This study offers multitudes of new parallels to the otherwise enigmatic parable tradition, opens an exciting new venue for comparative exploration, and lays a new foundation upon which to study the fables of Jesus.

Table of Contents

Intro -- Contents -- Preface -- Figures -- Tables -- Abbreviations -- Book I A New Foundation for the Study of Parables -- Chapter 1 Introduction -- 1.1 The Problems -- 1.2 The Answer -- 1.3 Scholarship from Jülicher Onward -- 1.3.1 Parable Scholarship -- 1.3.2 Parable and Fable -- 1.3.3 Jülicher's "Parabeln" -- 1.4 The Structure of the Study -- Chapter 2 Fable First Principles -- 2.1 Introduction -- 2.2 Myths about the Fable -- 2.2.1 Children's Literature -- 2.2.2 Jews Tell Parables, Greeks Tell Fables -- 2.2.3 "Realistic" People and "Impossible" Talking Beasts -- 2.3 Myths about the Parable -- 2.4 The Fable in Modern Secondary Literature -- 2.4.1 Ben Edwin Perry and the Language Barricades -- 2.4.2 Francisco Rodríguez Adrados and Weighty Tomes -- 2.4.3 Émile Chambry and How to Locate a Fable by Number -- 2.5 Conclusion -- Chapter 3 The Story of the Fable through the Hellenistic Period -- 3.1 Introduction -- 3.2 The Archaic Period -- 3.2.1 The Semitic World -- 3.2.2 The Greek World -- 3.3 The Classical Period of Ancient Greece -- 3.3.1 Rhetoric -- 3.3.2 Education -- 3.3.3 Condemned Wise Men -- 3.3.4 Early Traditions about Aesop -- 3.4 The Hellenistic Period -- 3.4.1 Demetrius of Phalerum -- 3.4.2 Callimachus of Cyrene -- 3.4.3 John Rylands Papyrus 493 and the Rhetorical Collections -- 3.5 Conclusion -- Chapter 4 Fable Collections in the Days of Jesus and the Gospels -- 4.1 Babrius and the Babrian Tradition -- 4.1.1 About Babrius -- 4.1.2 The Text -- 4.1.3 Sources -- 4.1.4 Babrius and the Bible -- 4.2 Phaedrus and the Phaedrian Tradition -- 4.2.1 Phaedrus the Freedman -- 4.2.2 The Text -- 4.2.3 Sources -- 4.3 The Augustana Collection and the Prose Recensions -- 4.3.1 The Date -- 4.3.2 The Text -- 4.3.3 The Origin and Sources -- 4.4 The Life of Aesop: A Sketch -- 4.4.1 The Date and Provenance -- 4.4.2 The Ancient Recensions of the Text.

4.5 Conclusion -- Chapter 5 The Fable in Graeco-Roman Education -- 5.1 Introduction -- 5.2 Education in the First Century -- 5.3 Primary Education -- 5.4 Hermeneumata -- 5.5 Secondary Education -- 5.6 Progymnasmata -- 5.6.1 The Chreia -- 5.6.2 Working with the Fable -- 5.6.3 Applying the Morals -- 5.6.4 Inventing Fables and Morals -- 5.7 Defining the Fable -- 5.7.1 Ancient and Modern Theory -- 5.7.2 Terminology -- 5.8 Whether to Divide Fables by Characters or Possibility -- 5.9 Conclusion -- Chapter 6 The Fables of the Rabbis -- 6.1 Introduction -- 6.2 The Fables of the Tannaim -- 6.2.1 Ben Zakkai: Talking Trees and Fox Meshalim -- 6.2.2 Ben Hananiah: Quelling a Revolt with a Fable -- 6.2.3 Akiva: A Martyr's Mashal -- 6.2.4 Meir: The Fable Corpus and the End of an Era -- 6.2.5 Bar Kappara and the Jewish Aesops -- 6.3 Spotting Fables in the Rabbinic Corpus -- 6.3.1 Meshalim Adapted from Hellenistic Fables -- 6.3.2 Characteristics of the Jewish Fable -- 6.4 Greeks and Romans on the Semitic Fables -- 6.5 Supersessionism and the Parable -- 6.6 Conclusion -- Chapter 7 The Parable and the Ancient Fable -- 7.1 Introduction -- 7.2 The Synthesis of Parable and Fable -- 7.3 The Meaning of παραβολή in the Ancient Rhetoricians -- 7.3.1 Aristotle's "Comparisons and Fables" -- 7.3.2 Apsines of Gadara: No People in Parables? -- 7.3.3 Tropes of Trypho and Homer's Parables -- 7.3.4 Folding Fables with Lucillus, Quintilian, and Aesop -- 7.4 Conclusion -- 7.5 Conclusion to Book I -- Book II The Fables of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke -- Chapter 8 Before We Forgot Our Fables -- 8.1 Introduction -- 8.2 Steps down the Path before Jülicher -- 8.2.1 Edward Greswell: "What is There to Discriminate Them Asunder?" -- 8.2.2 Richard Trench: "Fabula … An Unpleasant Sound in the Ear" -- 8.2.3 Gottlob Christian Storr: "Parables Are Rational Fables".

8.2.4 Hugo Grotius: "These αἴνους (Fables) of Christ" -- 8.2.5 An Icelandic Monk and the Dæmisögur of Jesus -- 8.2.6 Odo of Cheriton and the Parabolae of Aesop -- 8.2.7 Berechiah ha-Nakdan and the Medieval םילעוׁש ילׁשמ -- 8.2.8 Nonnus and the μῦθοι of Jesus -- 8.2.9 The Gospel of Thomas and the Missing ⲡⲁⲣⲁⲃⲟⲗⲏ -- 8.3 Aesop and the Fable in The Gospel of Luke -- 8.4 Conclusion -- Chapter 9 The Gospel Jesus and the Fable Teller -- 9.1 Introduction -- 9.2 The Presence of the Author -- 9.2.1 For Slaves -- 9.2.2 For Sophists -- 9.3 Jesus and the Fable Teller Tradition -- 9.4 The Death of the Fable Teller and the Wicked Tenants (Luke 20:9-19) -- 9.5 Conclusion -- Chapter 10 The Form of the Fable -- 10.1 Introduction -- 10.2 The Form of the "Parable" -- 10.3 The pronomina indefinita τις and δύο -- 10.4 Soliloquy and Direct Speech -- 10.5 How a Fable Is Structured -- 10.5.1 The Fool Acting Alone -- 10.5.2 The Agonistic Fable -- 10.6 Expanding and Condensing the Lukan Fables -- 10.6.1 Expanding the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32) -- 10.6.2 Condensing the Two Debtors (Luke 7:41-42) and Paraphrasing Fables -- 10.7 The Chreia and the Fable -- 10.8 Conclusion -- Chapter 11 Reading from the Fable Perspective -- 11.1 Introduction -- 11.2 Characters and Themes in the Fable -- 11.3 Live and Die by Your Wits: In Praise of the Crafty Steward (Luke 16:1-13) -- 11.4 Comedy and Austerity: Getting the Punchline of the Judge and the Widow (Luke 18:1-8) -- 11.5 "Parables" Are Unrealistic: The Scale of Fictionality and the Rich Fool (Luke 12:15-21) -- 11.6 Conclusion -- Chapter 12 The Lessons of the Fable and How to Interpret Them -- 12.1 Introduction -- 12.2 The Promythium and the Epimythium -- 12.2.1 Differentiating the Promythium and Epimythium -- 12.2.2 Multiple Morals -- 12.3 A Promythium to "Parable" Interpretation: Lessing and Jülicher's Single Point Approach.

12.4 The Promythium and the Lukan Fables -- 12.4.1 The Style of the Promythium -- 12.4.2 "Against Those Who …" and Other Subjects -- 12.5 The Forms of the Epimythium -- 12.6 "You" in the Ancient Fable -- 12.7 Conclusion -- Chapter 13 Interpreting from the Fable Perspective -- 13.1 Introduction -- 13.2 The Challenge of Weaving a Fable into a Gospel: The Judge and the Widow (Luke 18:1-8) -- 13.3 The Production of New Paratexts by the Fable Collector: The Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Luke 18:9-14) -- 13.4 The Futility of the "Single Lesson" Theory: The Crafty Steward (Luke 16:1-13) -- 13.5 Scribes Interpreting Jesus's Fables: The Place at the Table (Luke 14:7-11) -- 13.6 Creating Plot with the Chreia, the Fable, and Its Framing Devices: The Rich Fool (Luke 12:15-21) -- 13.7 An Epimythium to Fable Interpretation: C. H. Dodd and the Kingdom of God -- 13.8 Conclusion -- Chapter 14 The Lukan Fable Collection: A Source -- 14.1 Introduction -- 14.2 Luke's "Parable" Collection in Gospel Scholarship -- 14.3 Aesthetic Features of the Ancient Fable Collections -- 14.3.1 Phaedrus -- 14.3.2 The Augustana Collection -- 14.3.3 Babrius -- 14.3.4 Avianus -- 14.4 Aesthetic Features of the Lukan Fable Collection -- 14.4.1 Twin Fables and Coordinating Catchphrases -- 14.4.2 Conspicuous Catchwords or Thematic Vocabulary -- 14.5 Conclusion -- Chapter 15 Source Criticism of the Lukan Fables -- 15.1 Introduction -- 15.2 The Source Critical Value of the Fable Features -- 15.2.1 The Absence of the Kingdom of God in the Lukan Fable Collection -- 15.2.2 Soliloquy and Interior Monologue -- 15.2.3 Narrative Framing Devices -- 15.3 Style and Vocabulary -- 15.3.1 The Historical Present -- 15.3.2 Conjunctions and Parataxis -- 15.3.3 Asyndeton -- 15.3.4 The Absence of the Lukan Speaking Formula -- 15.3.5 Vocabulary -- 15.4 Problems with the Alternative Theories.

15.5 The Shape of the Source -- 15.6 The Sitz im Leben -- 15.7 The Date, Location, and Authorship of the Lukan Fable Collection -- 15.8 Conclusion -- Chapter 16 Fables beyond the Lukan Gospel -- 16.1 Introduction -- 16.2 Fables and the Other Early Christian Writings -- 16.2.1 Matthew -- 16.2.2 Q (?) -- 16.2.3 Mark -- 16.2.4 John -- 16.2.5 Paul -- 16.2.6 Thomas -- 16.3 Church Fathers -- 16.4 The Historical Jesus -- 16.5 Biblical and Post-biblical Judaism -- 16.6 Fable Scholarship -- 16.7 Conclusion to Book II -- Bibliography -- Key to Perry Numbers -- Index of Fables -- Index of Biblical, Early Christian, and Jewish Sources -- Index of Other Classical and Pre-Modern Authors and Materials -- Index of Modern Authors (Selective) -- Index of Subjects.