Abstract In this article, the writer considers the parable of the prodigal son. The writer looks at the parable, as told by Jesus.
From the Paper "And Jesus said A certain man had two sons, And the younger of them said to his father, Father give me the share of property that is going to be my inheritance And he divided his living between them. A few days later the younger son after converting everything he had into cash went off to a distant country and there he squandered his property by a wild and disorderly life. And when he had spent everything he had, a severe famine came ... "
Abstract This paper considers the parable of the mustard seed and the kingdom of heaven. In this article the writer discusses specifically its significance and meanings.
From the Paper "And Jesus said 'With what can we compare the kingdom of God or what parable shall we use for it. It is like a grain of mustard seed which when sown upon the ground is the smallest of all the seeds on earth and when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs and puts forth large branches so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade'. Jesus put forth before ... "
Abstract In this review of Bohen H. McCoy's "The Parable of the Sadhu," the writer illustrates how ethics can become cloudy in specific situations. The author further demonstrates how even moral individuals can fail to exercise leadership to ensure that ethical actions are taken during times of distress. The work itself is based on McCoy's encounter with an injured sadhu--or holy man--during a mountain climbing expedition in the Himalayas. From this vantage point, McCoy explores differing approaches to helping a fellow human being in need.
Outline:
Three Dimensions of Ethical Thinking--Situational, Contextual, & Cultural
Three Principles--the Common Good over Self-Interest, the Golden Rule, and Social Justice
Personal Definition of Ethics
Differentiates between Intentions and Deliberate, Ethical Actions both Authored by Him or Herself and by Others
Applies the Dimensions and Principles Chosen above to a Fictional Middle School
Acknowledges Ethical Differences in Dimensions and Principles Across Cultures
From the Paper "While traveling in the Himalayas, the author of "The Parable of the Sadhu," the businessman Bohen McCoy, encountered a Tibetan holy man, a known as a sadhu. The man was apparently coming back after making a pilgrimage. The sadhu wore no shoes, and was naked. Despite the sadhu's evident distress, only one member of McCoy's climbing expedition, an anthropologist named Stephen, moved to aid the sadhu by giving him clothing. A few Japanese climbers from another expedition attempted to help the man but no one really made effectual efforts to ensure the safe return of the ailing pilgrim. The fate of the sadhu still remains unknown."
The following paper examines the Bible's use of parables and the way in which they explain complex concepts as well as serving as a deconstruction of what is being symbolized.
1,020 words (approx. 4.1 pages), 3 sources, 2003, $ 36.95
Abstract This essay discusses the use of parables in describing the Kingdom of God. It examines how the parables helped Jesus explain the Kingdom of God to His disciples in terms that they could relate to.
From the paper:
?In the Parables of the Mustard Seed and the Leaven, Jesus described the Kingdom of God using parables. He compared it to a mustard seed in the beginning, saying that when it is first planted, it is the smallest of the seeds on Earth. He added that when it grows, it becomes the greatest of all shrubs. Next Jesus spoke of the parable of the leaven, saying that the Kingdom of God is like a leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.?
Abstract This paper relates the story of the parable of the unjust manager and highlights the setting and context of the parable. The author points out how Jesus builds on the parable. The paper presents an exegetical analysis of the parable and stresses insights gained from the parable.
From the Paper "Jesus also said to the disciples There was a rich man who had a manager and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his goods. And he called him and said to him: " What is this that I hear about you. Give an account of your management.""
Tags: unjust manager parable, bible, new testament, Jesus
Abstract This paper will examine the tradition of the parables. It will be argued that - although minor textual differences exist between parables in different gospels - all nonetheless reflect the singular theology and ministry of Jesus. The interpretation of the purpose of the parables as differentiating between an "in" and an "outsider" group will be shown to be based on a misreading of a Gospel passage. Finally, it will be demonstrated that the significance of the parables for modern Christians lies in their power to translate complex theological issues into everyday terminology and, in the process, allow us to establish an intimate awareness of the presence of Jesus in our lives.
Abstract In this article, the writer notes that the parable of the good Samaritan is one of the most familiar in the New Testament. It tells the story of a man who is harmed by robbers. The writer explains that two men pass him by, but the third stops and goes out of his way to help this stranger. The writer maintains that the parable of the good Samaritan teaches us that we are all the same. It teaches that differences are only skin deep and that we all must depend on our brethren for survival. The writer also explains that, in this parable, Jesus makes an obvious insult to the Pharisees and Levites, who felt more highly of their piousness than of their fellow man. The writer concludes that this parable is an excellent example of the type of actions that could end all conflict. The body of the paper includes a version of the text discussed.
From the Paper "The most important note on historical context is that Jesus was speaking to the Jews in the passage. The Samaritans and Jews were enemies who despised each other. The tale, as told in the context of the audience had a hidden significance in the ideal of non-discrimination. In this story, a racist was helped by another racist. Through this act, they were brought together for the common good of all. This element is often lost in the retelling of the story because the significance of racial tensions between the groups is not known to modern audiences.
"The key element that is important to a clear understanding of the text is the social setting in which the parable is told. There are racial tensions between the groups sitting in the audience. The essential essence of the parable lies within the conflict between the different groups in the audience."
Abstract This paper touches upon all of the history behind The Parable of the Lost Sheep. It examines the parable with its roots in the Bible in Matthew 18:10-14, and Luke 15:3-7 and how it has developed over the centuries. Analyzing the relationship between Mathew and Luke and how each of them used the parable in slightly different ways.
From the Paper "We encounter The Parable of the Lost Sheep in two gospels, Matthew 18:10-14, and Luke 15:3-7. Both gospels hold a very similar account of the story, a story mainly of joy. A shepherd is out and about with his one hundred sheep, and one goes astray. He leaves the ninety-nine and goes in search for the one that is lost. Stephen L. Harris describes it as such: ?The parable of the lost sheep recounts a shepherd's delight in finding a stray animal. In Luke's version, the focus is on the celebration that follows the shepherd's find: "friends and neighbors" are called to rejoice with him? (199)."
Abstract This paper relates the parable of the final judgment and its setting. The author performs an exegetical analysis. The paper explores the meaning of having the apostles as the only audience for this parable rather than a crowd.
From the Paper "Jesus said, "And when the Son of man comes in his glory and all the angels with him then he will sit upon his glorious throne. And all the nations will be gathered before him and he will separate them from one another as a shepherd separates...""
Tags: final judgment parable, bible, new testament
Abstract This paper describes one of the most well-known parables the "Prodigal Son" or "Lost Son" (Luke 15:11-32), which encompasses all the ideas of Christian doctrine. The author discusses the literal and the spiritual or metaphorical interpretations of the message of the story and relates the way that Franco Zeffirelli directed the telling of this parable in his movie "Jesus of Nazareth". The author concludes that Zeffirelli probably chose to include this scene in the movie as a way to visually demonstrate the response that Jesus' listeners had when incorporating the story into their own lives.
From the Paper "Because Jesus' mission on Earth was to spread the word of God and wash away people's sins, the purpose of this particular parable is to show that even the most corrupt individual can still enter the Kingdom of Heaven if he or she places full faith in the Lord and asks to be forgiven for his or her sins. In order to be permitted to enter the Lord's Kingdom, one must trust and believe completely in the words of Jesus and the omnipotent supremacy of God over all things human and earthly."
This paper is a critique of Max Lucado's work "In the Grip of Grace", with a focus on the opening parable in the story and Lucado's personal views as seen in his work.
Abstract This paper analyzes the work of Max Lucado, "In the Grip of Grace." The author first discusses Lucado's opening parable based on a father and five sons. The author then goes onto criticize it as unnatural and states the firm view that from the characters of the parable who are dismissed as savages, to the people who complain that their parachutes are the wrong color, Lucado manages to write off a great deal of humanity as not worth consideration. While he touts the grace of God, he creates the impression that he, Max Lucado, has a key that no one else has been given.
From the Paper "As an exegesis on Paul's epistle to the Romans, this book is an earnest attempt to expand and illuminate Paul's teaching. While this is one of Lucado's earlier books, it shows that strength of intellect that would carry him through more than fifty books. ("Max Lucado") Unfortunately, it also shows an off-putting stiffness. The parable illustrates this. Comparing Lucado's parable to such parables as the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son, Lucado's tale feels strained. Jesus' parables sound reasonable. Consider the opening to the Good Samaritan. 'There was a man who was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when robbers attacked him, stripped him and beat him up, leaving him half dead.' (Luke 10:25) It is simple and direct, and what comes after follows logically. The characters react in genuinely human ways. The Samaritan shows love for his neighbor, although this man is a stranger. The faithful son is offended when his father responds to the prodigal's return with a feast."
Abstract This paper presents a summary and analysis of "Parable of the Sower". The paper takes a look at biblical references in Butler's sci-fi story, as well as its parallels to the modern world and where our society may be headed.
From the Paper "Octavia E. Butler, the grande dame of science fiction, writes extraordinary, inspirational stories of ordinary people. Parable of the Sower is an ultimately hopeful tale set in a dystopian future United States of walled cities, disease, fires, and madness. Butler brings forth an utterly nightmarish vision of California in 2025, but one with a shockingly firm grounding in reality. Society, plagued by global warming and other detriments that Butler keeps unspecified, has collapsed. Los Angeles has devolved into walled island neighborhoods in a sea of utter chaos, (Butler, 23). Residents have been forced to themselves to keep from being overrun by hoards of homeless and starving just beyond the walls. Gangs of thugs rape, pillage and, under the influence of a drug called pyro, burn whole neighborhoods to the ground for the sheer joy of destruction. Everything we take for granted today now comes with a price. No one can be trusted. Violence is a way of life. People hear gunfire so much that [they no longer] hear it, (Butler, 440). Slavery is returning."
Abstract This paper examines how Franz Kafka, in his "Parable of Abraham", restructures the Biblical telling of God's mandate to Abraham that he sacrifice his son, Isaac, despite God's promises that Abraham's name would be perpetuated through Isaac's legacy. The paper looks at how Kafka takes the story of a man described as completely, blindly obedient to his faith - a man that is asked to make a sacrifice in the Old Testament that only God Himself would make in the New - and applies his modern, somewhat reductive, sensibilities upon it to manufacture a self-created, humanist Man in place of the "laughing" godhead that figures so prominently in Kafka's writing.
From the Paper "Further, just by postulating that "[Abraham] is afraid" he introduces an element of ambiguity in the Abraham story that marks it as stained by humanism and removed, some would say elevated, in that sense from the flat allegory presented in the Bible. Abraham, later in the passage, reveals that his fear is not only in the essential absurdity of the situation (he must slay the son that is to bring him immortality says the being the promised the latter while mandating the former), but that his fear is grounded in the fact that he suspects that it's all some kind of grand joke played at his expense by God that will be instantly recognized by all the Others in his society. "
Abstract This paper discusses the novel, "In Parable of the Sower," written by author Octavia E. Butler. The paper explains how, set in 2024, this religious tale exemplifies what the world has come to in terms of law and order. The paper examines the imagery throughout the novel and discusses how it is used to portray the depravity of society.
From the Paper "To be sure, Butler might seem to depict violence and death as the only thing that life has to offer in the new era, but realistically, through her protagonist, Butler reminds the reader that life's circumstances should not paralyze one into inaction. Rather, the audience is constantly reminded that in order to create a different reality one must have the courage to stand up and make changes. After all, the mantra of this parable is, "God is Change." In whatever God the audience chooses to believe, there is the power to make the changes necessary for a better future. Indeed, Parable of the Sower is very much a tale of hope and courage."
Abstract Jesus told about 40 parables in the gospels and the most well-known is the one about the prodigal son. It has a lot of meaning and is filled with symbols that are as important today as they were when Jesus told the story. In this paper, I will look at the parable in a few ways and bring out the information it contains, as well as how it fits in with other parables in the same chapter of Luke (15). I also will analyze what the parable means and look at other parables with the same message.
