Category: Parables

America, Bible, Christianity, Culture, Ethics, fear, Jesus, Love, Parables, Parables, Politics, Poverty, Race, racism, Selfishness, Story

Jesus, the Samaritan Woman, and Toxic History

Gary Furr

Reading the Bible Amid the Culture Wars When we come to the gospels, we meet a nearly nonstop array of the crossing of barriers. Jesus eats with sinners (as defined by the culture as much as the Law itself). He touches the “unclean” (defined by the pious) and welcomes them back into the people of God. Tax collectors join the disciple band along with Zealots. Women are recognized and sinners forgiven. Regarding consideration of cross-cultural relationships, it is a problem of where to begin. The welcome of the outcast, the stranger, the sick and the downtrodden is a feature of … Continue reading Jesus, the Samaritan Woman, and Toxic History

Christianity, Jesus, Lent, Parables, Parables, Teachings3 Comments

Parables as Mind Openers

Gary Furr

Dr. Tom Wright, the New Testament scholar, calls the parables of Jesus “open-ended stories” in his brilliant book, Jesus and the Victory of God.   They are also stories of the coming Kingdom.  In these teachings, he argues, Jesus does four things—he issues an invitation, a word of welcome, words of challenge, and words of decision and calling Last week,  during my Wednesday morning Bible study, I told about two kinds of thinking that we do about things that matter.  One is convergent thinking—we move toward narrowin g down to a solution, a focus, to eliminate the options and get to … Continue reading Parables as Mind Openers