The Parables After Jesus

David B. Gowler is Pierce Professor of Religion at Oxford College of Emory University, Senior Faculty Fellow at the Center for Ethics at Emory University, and Co-Editor of Emory Studies in Early Christianity. He is the author of Host, Guest, Enemy, and Friend: Portraits of the Pharisees in Luke and Acts; What Are They Saying about the Parables?; What Are They Saying about the Historical Jesus?; James through the Centuries; and The Parables after Jesus: Their Imaginative Receptions across Two Millennia. His books have been translated into French, Korean, Indonesian, and Japanese. He has also published dozens of articles, book chapters, and book reviews, and is the editor or coeditor of over thirty books.

List of Illustrations Preface Abbreviations Introduction 1. The Afterlives of Jesus's Parables in Antiquity (to ca. 550 CE) Irenaeus The Gospel of Philip Clement of Alexandria Tertullian Origen John Chrysostom Augustine Macrina the Younger Ephrem the Syrian The Good Shepherd in Early Christian Art Oil Lamp Roman Catacombs Dura-Europos House Church Illuminations from the Rossano Gospels Byzantine Mosaics, Christ Separating Sheep from Goats, Sant'Apollinare Nuovo (Ravenna, Italy) Romanos the Melodist 2. The Afterlives of Jesus's Parables in the Middle Ages (ca. 550-1500 CE) Gregory the Great Sahih al-Bukhari Wazo of Liege The Golden Gospels of Echternach The Laborers in the Vineyard The Wicked Tenants The Great Dinner The Rich Man and Lazarus Theophylact Hildegard of Bingen Chartres Cathedral Bonaventure Thomas Aquinas John Gower Antonia Pulci Albrecht Duerer 3. The Afterlives of Jesus's Parables in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries Martin Luther Anna Jansz of Rotterdam John Calvin John Maldonatus William Shakespeare Domenico Fetti George Herbert Roger Williams Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn John Bunyan 4. The Afterlives of Jesus's Parables in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries William Blake Soren Kierkegaard Frederick Douglass Fanny Crosby Leo Tolstoy John Everett Millais Emily Dickinson Charles Haddon Spurgeon Adolf Juelicher 5. The Afterlives of Jesus's Parables in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries Thomas Hart Benton Parables and the Blues: Rev. Robert Wilkins Flannery O'Connor Martin Luther King Jr. Godspell Two Latin American Receptions The Peasants of Solentiname Elsa Tamez David Flusser Octavia Butler Thich Nhat Hanh Conclusion: What Do Parables Want? Appendix: Descriptions of the Parables Cited in the Interpretations Works Cited Scripture Index Subject Index

Gowler has once again contributed a valuable work to the growing field of reception history and biblical studies. It is especially important to note that he sees this work as an 'introduction, ' a 'starting point' and 'stimulus for further discussions, ' and as such it certainly accomplishes this task. --Zechariah Eberhart "Religious Studies Review" With The Parables after Jesus, David Gowler has provided contemporary readers with resources necessary to respond to what the parables want, with an answer that 'involves both understanding and action.' For this gift of erudite scholarship that culminates in a challenging call to action, we are in David Gowler's debt once again. --Mikeal C. Parsons "Review of Biblical Literature"