Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #121584 in Books
• Published on: 2008-01-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 846 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780802842411
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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Customer Reviews

A stunning accomplishment!
I have had this book for a week now, and it is fabulous. I have read other books on the parables, one purchased on Amazon and another while in college, but "Stories with Intent" sets a new standard for later works to model.

Yes, this book is huge -- more than 800 pages -- but the first 60 pages are dedicated to setting the stage for the material and how the parables are evaluated, and the final 260 pages are appendices, reference notes and a lengthy bibliography and index. Pretty exhaustive!

Each parable is given an in-depth analysis, starting with a review of the issues that need to be addressed within each (such as cultural, theological and moral considerations); background material, such as related source material from the OT, NT, Jewish writings and Christian writings; and then a thorough look at the parable itself. Klyne Snodgrass does an awesome job of balancing his study with textual insights based on the Greek language (such as comparing word usage in other Gospel accounts), cultural considerations (what the parable would have meant to the Jews who heard it during Jesus' time), rhetorical comparisons (taking into account devices such as inclusio and chiastic structures) and more. He also shares contrasting interpretations for the parables before sharing his interpretation, which always let the original audience and setting be a compass for where his interpretation will lead the reader. Lastly, the writing style is very friendly, offering insights such as this one from the parable of the treasure in Matthew Chapter 13: "No one goes and sells all for something that does not cause the adrenaline to flow."

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in learning more about the parables. It's wonderful to pick up and read for reference on any parable, but I also have found it to be a great form of study -- using my Bible to look up comparative verses, conducting word studies and more.

Probably the New Standard for the Next 20 Years
Klyne Snodgrass has done this decade and maybe the next two the favor of condensing 35 years of teaching the Parables of Jesus into "just" 800 pages or so, in Stories with Intent: A Comprehensive Guide to the Parables of Jesus.

This is the book almost every seminary graduate will wish he or she had had when studying the parables. I do, and I wish I had had it the past 40 years. There are classics on the Parables, to be sure, such as the one by Jeremias The Parables of Jesus 3rd revised edition (simplified in his Rediscovering the Parables), but none were as comprehensive as this one.

Two features make Stories with Intent remarkably easy to read. First, all the chapters on the parables themselves follow the same basic outline, but it is the vertical white space that makes the outline stand out and the discussion particularly easy to follow. Secondly, all the advanced discussion is in the end notes, so that the reader who needs to follow up can and the reader who prefers not to can just keep reading.

In addition, the chapters on the parables themselves end with a section called "Adapting the Parable" (just before "For Further Reading)." The former describes the significance of the parable for today, in somewhat wider ways than mere "application," though that it included, too. Often Snodgrass makes a pithy remark--almost a wisdom saying in its own right--to end that section. For example, "Once again, the note of joy, as an essential feature of the kingdom, cannot be neglected. Where joy is absent, the kingdom is absent" (concluding "The Lost Coin").

One of the most unusual features of the book is that, for each parable discussed, it sets Jesus' parables in the context of the ancient world by prominently citing or paraphrasing parables or similar sayings from the Old Testament, Graeco-Roman authors, early and later Jewish/Rabbinic sources, and early Christian writers. For example, introducing the background of The Lost Coin, he cites Dio Chrysostom complaining that people who pay no attention to time and money still become distressed at losing 1 drachma [1 day's wage for a male laborer, 2 days' wage for a woman, he tells us later].

I recommend that you read the first two chapters first before dipping into the chapters on individual parables, so that you will understand his approach and some technical terms that keep coming up in the later chapters, for example, "nimshal" (Hebrew or Aramaic for "explanatory interpretation"), defined early in the book and used fairly often later on (but with no subject index, ... well, hard to find its meaning presented).

One interpretive principle he stated resonated with me: "... the realization that introductions such as 'The kingdom is like a man' (or a woman or seed, etc.) do not compare the kingdom to the characters or objects but to the whole process of the narration. ... We will see over and over that the whole narrated process in in view, not just the first item mentioned" (p. 29).

If you are looking for the best book available on the Parables of Jesus and you have the skill to use it, this is it. You don't need a seminary degree to understand it, but there are times when it would make it easier for you. For most readers, it is like a gold mine, but they will have to dig a little to use it. Finally, you will want your Bible at hand and open to follow up on the passages he cites and, for sure, to read the parables under discussion.

An incredible resource.
This book would be an amazing bargain at 5 times the price. It is exhaustive, witty, thoughtful, and uncomfortably pointed (as are the parables!). Snodgrass avoids scholarly faddishness, and references a wealth of literary and historical parallels to Jesus' parables. A monumental work, and an invaluable resource.