Short Stories by Jesus - Print

Short Stories by Jesus: The Enigmatic Parables of a Controversial Rabbi

By Amy-Jill Levine

Soft cover 313pp
1.8cm H x 19.8cms L x 13.5cm W (0.27 kgs)
ISBN 9780061561030
HarperOne (2015)

[Allow 4 weeks]

Jesus was a skilled storyteller and perceptive teacher who used parables from everyday life to effectively convey his message and meaning.

Life in first-century Palestine was very different from our world today, and many traditional interpretations of Jesus’ stories ignore this disparity and have often allowed anti-Semitism and misogyny to colour their perspectives.

In this wise, entertaining, and educational book, Amy-Jill Levine offers a fresh, timely reinterpretation of Jesus’ narratives.

She analyses these “problems with parables,” taking readers back in time to understand how their original Jewish audience understood them.

Levine reveals the parables’ connections to first-century economic and agricultural life, social customs and morality, Jewish scriptures and Roman culture.

With this revitalized understanding, she interprets these moving stories for the contemporary reader, showing how the parables are not just about Jesus, but are also about us – and when read rightly, still challenge and provoke us 2,000 years later.