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William Herzog shows that the focus of the parables was not on a vision of the glory of the reign of God but on the gory details of the way oppression served the interests of the ruling class. The parables were a form of social analysis, as well as a form of theological reflection. Herzog scrutinizes their canonical form to show the distinction between its purpose for Jesus and for evangelists. To do this, he uses the tools of historical criticism, including form criticism and redaction criticism.
"The journey to Galilee, where Mark's Jesus said he would meet us, lies open on roads across the globe."
Laurel Cobb's career of social work and advocacy on behalf of the disadvantaged in emerging countries around the globe inform this powerful book on the Gospel of Mark. Cobb combines academic insights into scripture with personal experiences of social inequities and a strongly articulated argument for resistance against Empire (then and now) as a crucial component of any life of Christian discipleship.
Using her personal experiences of faith, economic struggle in the face of a globalized consumer culture dictated from the United States, and gender inequality, Cobb asks the reader to view one's own responsibilities to a world in need of resistance against imperial power in all its forms through the lens of Mark's Gospel; such reisitance is needed today as much as when Jesus stood against Empire twenty centuries ago.
The contributors to this book pursue three important lines of inquiry into parable study, in order to illustrate how these lessons have been received throughout the millennia. The contributors consider not only the historical and material world of the parables' composition, and focusing on the social, political, economic, and material reality of that world, but also seek to connect how the parables may have been seen and heard in ancient contexts with how they have been, and continue to be, seen and heard. Intentionally allowing for a “bounded openness” of approach and interpretation, these essays explore numerous contexts, encounters and responses. Examining topics ranging from ancient harvest imagery and dependency relations to contemporary experience with the narratives and lessons of the parables, this volume seeks to link those very real ancient contexts with our own varied modern contexts.
Christian religious imagery and symbolism has a long history in American baseball cinema, from The Busher (1919) to Angels in the Outfield(1994) and present-day movies. This book examines The Natural, Field of Dreams, Bull Durham and other films, exploring the frequency of Christian imagery and themes in the American baseball movie. From Babe Ruth's performance of a miracle to help a disabled boy walk again in The Babe Ruth Story to Shoeless Joe Jackson's question to Ray Kinsella--"Is this heaven?"--in Field of Dreams, Christian themes and American baseball film are inextricably linked. This discussion encompasses symbolic imagery in mainstream film, Christian baseball movies directed by Christian filmmakers promoting their faith messages and images of America as a prelapsarian paradise before "The Fall."