Book Review: Brad Young’s Jesus and His Jewish Parables

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From the outset Young argues that the best way to understand what Jesus was teaching in his parables is to try to hear him as he spoke to his people. The author argues that this can best be done by analyzing the parables of Jesus together with those told by other rabbis of his day.

The parables of Jesus have inspired preachers, poets and believers through the ages. At the same time, the parables have often been a source of considerable controversy and confusion. It is ironic that the simple illustrations used by Jesus have proven so difficult for his followers to understand.

This has happened largely because the parables have been so far removed from their original setting, and interpreters of the Bible with little or no knowledge of the Jewish background to the Gospels have struggled to understand Jesus’ words. The problem began with the very foundation of the Church. The Church fathers, who freely allegorized the parables, had little contact with the world of Jewish learning. Sadly, their oversight has been compounded by almost every following generation of Christians, often with disastrous consequences.

With the arrival of the Enlightenment, some scholars began to look at the parables in their Jewish setting. Yet much of this scholarship, such as that of the influential John Lightfoot, is tainted with anti-Jewish prejudice. This ignorance and prejudice concerning the Judaism of Jesus’ day continues to be perpetuated today in many Bible colleges and seminaries.

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This article originally appeared in issue 21 of the Jerusalem Perspective magazine. Click on the image above to view a PDF of the original magazine article.

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  • David Pileggi

    David Pileggi

    David Pileggi lives in Jerusalem with his wife Carol and their three adult children where he is the rector of Christ Church in the Old City of Jerusalem. They have lived in Israel for 33 years where David has worked as a journalist/researcher and for…
    [Read more about author]

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