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Jump to navigationJump to searchNew page: Image:lighterstill.jpgright|frame A '''parable''' is a brief, succinct story, in prose or verse, that illustrates a [[mora...
[[Image:lighterstill.jpg]][[Image:Parable_of_the_rich_man_and_the_beggar.jpg|right|frame]]
A '''parable''' is a brief, succinct story, in [[prose]] or [[verse]], that illustrates a [[moral]] or [[religious]] lesson. It differs from a '''[[fable]]''' in that fables use animals, plants, inanimate objects, and forces of [[nature]] as characters, while parables generally feature [[human]] [[character]]s.
Some scholars of the ''[[New Testament]]'' apply the term "parable" only to the parables of [[Jesus]], though that is not a common restriction of the term. Parables such as "Parable of the Prodigal Son" are central to [[Jesus]]' teaching method in both the [[canonical]] and [[apocrypha]]l narratives.
==Characteristics==
The word "parable" comes from the Greek "''παραβολή''" (''parabolē''), the name given by [[Greek]] [[Rhetoric|rhetorician]]s to any fictive illustration in the form of a brief narrative. Later it came to mean a fictitious [[narrative]], generally referring to something that might naturally occur, by which [[spiritual]] and [[moral]] matters might be conveyed.
A parable is one of the simplest of [[narrative]]s. It sketches a setting, describes an action, and shows the results. It often involves a [[character]] facing a [[moral]] dilemma, or making a questionable [[free will|decision]] and then suffering the consequences. As with a [[fable]], a parable generally relates a single, simple, consistent action, without extraneous detail or distracting circumstances. Examples of parables are [[Ignacy Krasicki]]'s Son and Father," "The Farmer," "Litigants" and "The Drunkard."
Many [[folktale]]s could be viewed as extended parables, and many [[fairy tale]]s also, except for their [[magic]]al settings. The prototypical parable differs from the [[apologue]] in that it is a realistic story that seems inherently probable and takes place in a familiar setting of life.
A parable is like a [[metaphor]] that has been extended to form a brief, coherent fiction. Christian parables have recently been studied as extended [[metaphor]]s, for example by a writer who finds that "parables are stories about ordinary men and women who find in the midst of their everyday lives surprising things happening. They are not about 'giants of the [[faith]]' who have religious [[vision]]s. Needless to say, "extended metaphor" alone is not in itself a sufficient description of parable; the characteristics of an "extended metaphor" are shared by the fable and are the essential core of allegory.
Unlike the situation with a [[simile]], a parable's parallel meaning is unspoken and implicit, though not ordinarily secret.
The defining characteristic of the parable is the presence of a prescriptive subtext suggesting how a person should behave or believe. Aside from providing guidance and suggestions for proper action in life, parables frequently use [[metaphor]]ical language which allows people to more easily discuss difficult or complex ideas. In [[Plato]]'s ''[[Republic]]'', parables like the "[[the Cave]]" (in which one's understanding of [[truth]] is presented as a story about being deceived by shadows on the wall of a cave) teach an abstract argument, using a concrete narrative which is more easily grasped.
In the preface to his translation of ''Aesop's Fables'', George Fyler Townsend defined "parable" as "the designed use of language purposely intended to convey a hidden and secret meaning other than that contained in the words themselves, and which may or may not bear a special reference to the hearer or reader."
Townsend may have been influenced by the contemporary expression, "to speak in parables", connoting obscurity. In common modern uses of "parable," though their significance is never explicitly stated, parables are not generally held to be hidden or secret but on the contrary are typically straightforward and obvious. It is the [[allegory]] that typically features hidden meanings. As H.W. Fowler puts it in his book ''Modern English Usage'', the object of both parable and allegory "is to enlighten the hearer by submitting to him a case in which he has apparently no direct concern, and upon which therefore a disinterested judgment may be elicited from him." The parable, though, is more condensed than the [[allegory]]: a single [[principle]] comes to bear, and a single [[moral]] is deduced as it dawns on the reader or listener that the conclusion applies equally well to his own concerns.
==History==
Parables are favored in the expression of [[spiritual]] concepts. The best-known source of parables in [[Christianity]] is the ''[[Bible]]'', which contains numerous parables in the Gospels section of the New Testament. Jesus' parables, which are attested in many sources and are almost universally seen as being historical, are thought by scholars such as John P. Meier to have come from [[mashal]]im, a form of Hebrew comparison.
Medieval interpreters of the Bible often treated [[Jesus]]'s parables as detailed allegories, with symbolic [[correspondence]]s found for every element in the brief narratives. Modern critics regard these interpretations as inappropriate and untenable. Jülicher held that these parables usually are intended to make a single important point, and most recent scholarship agrees.
Recently there has been interest in contemporary parable, exploring how modern stories can be used as parables. A mid-19th-century contemporary parable is the "Parable of the Broken Window," which exposes a fallacy in [[economics|economic]] thinking.
==Notes==
#John P. Meier, A Marginal Jew, volume II, Doubleday, 1994.
#H.W. Fowler, Modern English Usage, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1958.
#For parables as extended metaphors, see Amos Wilder, The Language of the Gospel: Early Christian Rhetoric (New York: Harper & Row) 1964; Robert W, Funk, Language, Hermeneutic and Word of God: The Problem of Language in the New Testament and Contemporary Theology (New York: Harper & Row) 1966; Dan O. Via Jr, The Parables: Their Literary and Existential Dimension (Philadelphia: Fortress) 1967; Sallie TeSelle, Speaking in Parables: A Study in Metaphore and Theology (Philadelphia: Fortress) 1975.
#Sallie McFague TeSelle, "Parable, Metaphor, and Theology," Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 42.4 (December 1974:630-645).
#George Fyler Townsend, translator's preface to Aesop's Fables, Belford, Clarke & Co., 1887.
#Adolf Jülicher, Die Gleichmisreden Jesu (2 vols; Tübingen: Mohr [Siebeck], 1888, 1899).
==External links==
* [http://www.comportone.com/cpo/religion/christian/parables/list.htm List of parables of Jesus].
* [http://www.bibletexts.com/texts/parables.htm Analysis of the parables of Jesus].
* [http://www.clearvisionpk.com/Parables_of_the_Quran.html Parables in the Quran] by [http://clearvisionpk.com ClearVisionPk]
* [http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=63&letter=P Jewish Encyclopedia: Parable].
* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11460a.htm Catholic Encyclopedia: Parable].
* [http://www.pacificnet.net/~johnr/cgi/aesop1.cgi?1&Preface Definition] by [[George Fyler Townsend]].
* [http://www.mywilliespress.com Parables, Allegories, and Unique Stories]works and teachings available from My Willies Press, written by Claude R. Sheffield.
[[Category: Languages and Literature]]
A '''parable''' is a brief, succinct story, in [[prose]] or [[verse]], that illustrates a [[moral]] or [[religious]] lesson. It differs from a '''[[fable]]''' in that fables use animals, plants, inanimate objects, and forces of [[nature]] as characters, while parables generally feature [[human]] [[character]]s.
Some scholars of the ''[[New Testament]]'' apply the term "parable" only to the parables of [[Jesus]], though that is not a common restriction of the term. Parables such as "Parable of the Prodigal Son" are central to [[Jesus]]' teaching method in both the [[canonical]] and [[apocrypha]]l narratives.
==Characteristics==
The word "parable" comes from the Greek "''παραβολή''" (''parabolē''), the name given by [[Greek]] [[Rhetoric|rhetorician]]s to any fictive illustration in the form of a brief narrative. Later it came to mean a fictitious [[narrative]], generally referring to something that might naturally occur, by which [[spiritual]] and [[moral]] matters might be conveyed.
A parable is one of the simplest of [[narrative]]s. It sketches a setting, describes an action, and shows the results. It often involves a [[character]] facing a [[moral]] dilemma, or making a questionable [[free will|decision]] and then suffering the consequences. As with a [[fable]], a parable generally relates a single, simple, consistent action, without extraneous detail or distracting circumstances. Examples of parables are [[Ignacy Krasicki]]'s Son and Father," "The Farmer," "Litigants" and "The Drunkard."
Many [[folktale]]s could be viewed as extended parables, and many [[fairy tale]]s also, except for their [[magic]]al settings. The prototypical parable differs from the [[apologue]] in that it is a realistic story that seems inherently probable and takes place in a familiar setting of life.
A parable is like a [[metaphor]] that has been extended to form a brief, coherent fiction. Christian parables have recently been studied as extended [[metaphor]]s, for example by a writer who finds that "parables are stories about ordinary men and women who find in the midst of their everyday lives surprising things happening. They are not about 'giants of the [[faith]]' who have religious [[vision]]s. Needless to say, "extended metaphor" alone is not in itself a sufficient description of parable; the characteristics of an "extended metaphor" are shared by the fable and are the essential core of allegory.
Unlike the situation with a [[simile]], a parable's parallel meaning is unspoken and implicit, though not ordinarily secret.
The defining characteristic of the parable is the presence of a prescriptive subtext suggesting how a person should behave or believe. Aside from providing guidance and suggestions for proper action in life, parables frequently use [[metaphor]]ical language which allows people to more easily discuss difficult or complex ideas. In [[Plato]]'s ''[[Republic]]'', parables like the "[[the Cave]]" (in which one's understanding of [[truth]] is presented as a story about being deceived by shadows on the wall of a cave) teach an abstract argument, using a concrete narrative which is more easily grasped.
In the preface to his translation of ''Aesop's Fables'', George Fyler Townsend defined "parable" as "the designed use of language purposely intended to convey a hidden and secret meaning other than that contained in the words themselves, and which may or may not bear a special reference to the hearer or reader."
Townsend may have been influenced by the contemporary expression, "to speak in parables", connoting obscurity. In common modern uses of "parable," though their significance is never explicitly stated, parables are not generally held to be hidden or secret but on the contrary are typically straightforward and obvious. It is the [[allegory]] that typically features hidden meanings. As H.W. Fowler puts it in his book ''Modern English Usage'', the object of both parable and allegory "is to enlighten the hearer by submitting to him a case in which he has apparently no direct concern, and upon which therefore a disinterested judgment may be elicited from him." The parable, though, is more condensed than the [[allegory]]: a single [[principle]] comes to bear, and a single [[moral]] is deduced as it dawns on the reader or listener that the conclusion applies equally well to his own concerns.
==History==
Parables are favored in the expression of [[spiritual]] concepts. The best-known source of parables in [[Christianity]] is the ''[[Bible]]'', which contains numerous parables in the Gospels section of the New Testament. Jesus' parables, which are attested in many sources and are almost universally seen as being historical, are thought by scholars such as John P. Meier to have come from [[mashal]]im, a form of Hebrew comparison.
Medieval interpreters of the Bible often treated [[Jesus]]'s parables as detailed allegories, with symbolic [[correspondence]]s found for every element in the brief narratives. Modern critics regard these interpretations as inappropriate and untenable. Jülicher held that these parables usually are intended to make a single important point, and most recent scholarship agrees.
Recently there has been interest in contemporary parable, exploring how modern stories can be used as parables. A mid-19th-century contemporary parable is the "Parable of the Broken Window," which exposes a fallacy in [[economics|economic]] thinking.
==Notes==
#John P. Meier, A Marginal Jew, volume II, Doubleday, 1994.
#H.W. Fowler, Modern English Usage, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1958.
#For parables as extended metaphors, see Amos Wilder, The Language of the Gospel: Early Christian Rhetoric (New York: Harper & Row) 1964; Robert W, Funk, Language, Hermeneutic and Word of God: The Problem of Language in the New Testament and Contemporary Theology (New York: Harper & Row) 1966; Dan O. Via Jr, The Parables: Their Literary and Existential Dimension (Philadelphia: Fortress) 1967; Sallie TeSelle, Speaking in Parables: A Study in Metaphore and Theology (Philadelphia: Fortress) 1975.
#Sallie McFague TeSelle, "Parable, Metaphor, and Theology," Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 42.4 (December 1974:630-645).
#George Fyler Townsend, translator's preface to Aesop's Fables, Belford, Clarke & Co., 1887.
#Adolf Jülicher, Die Gleichmisreden Jesu (2 vols; Tübingen: Mohr [Siebeck], 1888, 1899).
==External links==
* [http://www.comportone.com/cpo/religion/christian/parables/list.htm List of parables of Jesus].
* [http://www.bibletexts.com/texts/parables.htm Analysis of the parables of Jesus].
* [http://www.clearvisionpk.com/Parables_of_the_Quran.html Parables in the Quran] by [http://clearvisionpk.com ClearVisionPk]
* [http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=63&letter=P Jewish Encyclopedia: Parable].
* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11460a.htm Catholic Encyclopedia: Parable].
* [http://www.pacificnet.net/~johnr/cgi/aesop1.cgi?1&Preface Definition] by [[George Fyler Townsend]].
* [http://www.mywilliespress.com Parables, Allegories, and Unique Stories]works and teachings available from My Willies Press, written by Claude R. Sheffield.
[[Category: Languages and Literature]]
