Drawing on a lifetime of study in both Middle Eastern culture and the Gospels, Kenneth E. Bailey compares the Old Testament saga of Jacob and the New Testament parable of the prodigal son, offering a fresh view of how Jesus interpreted Israel's past, his present, and their future.
Drawing on his extensive knowledge of both the New Testament and Middle Eastern culture, Kenneth E. Bailey presents an interpretation of the parable of the prodigal son from a Middle Eastern perspective and, in doing so, powerfully demonstrates its essentially Christian message.
A bible theological didactic is not principally reduced to learning and teaching Bible alone but rather extended to understanding and interpreting Bible in one's own religious and pedagogical context. Bible didactic, moreover, does not circumscribe itself only to biblical knowledge in virtue of deducing some abstract and moral principles, but it rather prospects to strengthen and reconstruct one's identity within the choices offered by culture and context. This book aims to engage in an intercultural interpretation of the parables and the miracles of Jesus by dialoging with the culture of Tamils. This comparative study subsequently proposes an alternative synchronic hermeneutic in biblical didactics replacing a deep-seated diachronic model in Tamil land. It also develops a model of sync-culturation superseding fossilised model of inculturation. This book capitalises Tamils' texts and narratives of masses reflected in the archives of Tamil literatures and legends in the process of theologisation. Bearing on the aesthetics of parables and miracles and contextual reading of them, this study brings forward ‘the world in front of the text' leaving behind the conventional exegesis of `the world behind the text’.
Kenneth E. Bailey draws on his expertise in both the New Testament and Middle Eastern culture to interpret the parable of the prodigal son from a Middle Eastern perspective. When we approach it with the correct cultural lens, Bailey argues, the parable's true Christological character is revealed.
In this groundbreaking study of Paul's first epistle to the Corinthians, Kenneth Bailey examines the canonical letter through Paul's Jewish socio-cultural and rhetorical background and through the Mediterranean context of its Corinthian recipients.
The New York Times bestselling author of The Prodigal Prophet uncovers the essential message of Jesus, locked inside his most familiar parable. Newsweek called renowned minister Timothy Keller "a C.S. Lewis for the twenty-first century" in a feature on his first book, The Reason for God. In that book, he offered a rational explanation of why we should believe in God. Now, in The Prodigal God, Keller takes his trademark intellectual approach to understanding Christianity and uses the parable of the prodigal son to reveal an unexpected message of hope and salvation. Within that parable Jesus reveals God's prodigal grace toward both the irreligious and the moralistic. This book will challenge both the devout and skeptics to see Christianity in a whole new way.
How the Story of the Prodigal Son Illuminates Jesus's Genius When someone thinks of Jesus, "genius" is not likely the first word that comes to mind. But when studied in detail, Jesus's teachings and interactions with others combined high levels of knowledge and insight, verbal skill, and simplicity—showing his genius. In The Surprising Genius of Jesus, Peter J. Williams examines the story of the prodigal son in Luke 15 to show the genius, creativity, and wisdom of Jesus's teachings. He used simple but powerful stories to confront the Pharisees and scribes of the day, drawing on his knowledge of the Jewish Scriptures to teach his audience through complex layers and themes. Williams challenges those who question whether Jesus really was the source of the parables recorded in the Gospels, pointing readers to the truth of who Jesus is and why that matters for them today. Clear and Insightful: Accessible for general readers with in-depth footnotes for those wanting to learn more Biblical: Comprehensive, interscriptural analysis of the story of the prodigal son Written by Peter J. Williams: Author of Can We Trust the Gospels? and principal of Tyndale House, Cambridge
This book explores the intended meaning, as well as the implications and applications, of the three parables in Luke 15 (The Good Shepherd and the Lost Sheep, The Good Woman and the Lost Coin, and The Good Father and His Two Lost Sons). It reflects the author's immersion in the language, religion, and culture of the Middle East, demonstrating how meaningful the biblical text becomes when a broad background of study and analysis is permitted to illuminate the text. Western readers will gain an array of new insights from this volume and will be fascinated by the author's nuances of interpretation. The author's analysis shows how the cultural background of Arabic and Muslim theology affects the interpretation of these parables.
Kenneth Bailey, with his celebrated insights into Middle Eastern culture, traces the theme of the good shepherd from its origins in Psalm 23 through the prophets and into the New Testament, observing how it changed, developed and was applied by the biblical writers over a thousand-year span.