English Lit. Interpretations of the Gospel

Ive watched a few sermons/interpretations of the Parables recently on Youtube. Discovered that the speakers had an English Lit. qualification and they dug deeper to offer new insights into the meaning of the parable.
It was refreshing an motivating for me.

glad to hear friend can you share some of these interpretations of the parables?
i see you are new member welcome

ok i will post them from my laptop later. one is from an american theology professor working at a catholic university. Brant Pitre. Another from A Canadian Church called Commons.

Just a thought, why would an education an english be a help in understaning greek, hebrew and aramaic texts and ideals?

Of course Brant also has a vast knowledge of the original languages used.

The parables have depth. And I think we should avoid easy literal translations. its worth thinking more deeply. The meaning is hardly ever obvious. Spending more time on reflection. Let the experts help us with translations from Greek, Aramaic and Hebrew but then look further. What did Jesus really mean? We will never get the perfect meaning. Maybe we aren't supposed to. But I think it is worth some effort to wrestle with discernment.

sorry
i think my thread title is misleading.
im just more impressed with an in depth analysis of parables. In the vein of Jordan Peterson I guess who is a psychologist not a theologian. I think those with a psychology/english lit. background can give a much more interesting analysis.

I haven't viewed the video... just coming on here briefly to say I agree with the following portion of an article [with caveats to the remainder of the article] written by Dr Thomas Ice, "An Interpretation of Matthew 24-25 -- Part XXX" :

[quoting]

"[re: Matt24 here] Five Parabolic Illustrations These parables or illustrations of Jesus are as follows: First, the fig tree illustration (24:32- 35); second, the days of Noah illustration (24:36- 39); third, a comparison of two men and women illustration (24:40- 41); fourth, the faithful house holder illustration (24:42- 44); and fifth, the wise servant illustration (24:45- 51).

"These five parables are important lessons that relate to Israel. In fact, I would go so far as to say that all the parables in the New Testament relate directly to Israel. Often they relate to Israel’s rejection of Jesus as their Messiah and speak of consequences that will flow from such an act. Christ told His disciples in Matthew 13:10- 17 that He would speak to ”this people” (Israel) in order to blind them to the truth because of their rejection of Jesus as the Messiah. However, believers could come to understand the meaning of His parables because we are receptive of the revelation offered by Christ. Therefore, they all relate to Israel in some way, shape, or form and usually tell us something about God’s plan for the future.

"The parables within the Olivet Discourse, when they speak of a coming, all relate to the second coming and not the rapture of the church. This is true because the entire Olivet Discourse was given to Israel and relates to her tribulation and Christ’s return at the end of that period. Truths relating to the rapture of the church are revealed exclusively in the New Testament Epistles, which were written specifically for the purpose of explaining the intent and nature of the Church age. The only exception to this is Christ’s initial unveiling of the church’s hope in the Upper Room Discourse (John 14:1-3) shortly before His death."

--Dr Thomas Ice

[end quoting; bold and underline mine; bracket mine; parentheses original]

I agree Jordan Peterson has a lot of information yes. And indeed there is often a real "Golden Nugget" of truth found in listening to certain people. You can read a whole book or hear a whole speech from someone, and there is "one truth" that is the reason you were led to read it or hear it as it seems to resonate within.

David Bowie once said he was a "collector". Not talking about biblical truth, but he meant that some people you meet offer "a bit of truth" for you to collect, like a jigsaw piece. You can either take that "piece" of the jigsaw and see if it fits or discard it. Its a way to get the full picture if it all fits together. I kind of get that. Truth is sometimes like gold - you don't just find it just there on the street - you have to dig deep for it. And watch out for "fools gold"!

That should read "a few of the parables" not all of the parables. Even the parable of the sower tells us that "the field is the world".

Nice lesson about financial stewardship!

I agree with you. Jesus was constantly trying to get people to look beyond the surface of things and appearances.

Have you read my posts mentioning that I believe the 144,000 are "firstfruit" of the "WHEAT harvest"
[per Rev14:4 compared with Lev23:17 and its "TWO loaves" and "baken WITH LEAVEN"; and see Rev7:3 set in contradistinction to Rev7:9,14 (the "a great multitude... of all the nations" [coming out of the GREAT trib]); and that the disciples' Q of Jesus in Matt24:3 was BASED on what He'd ALREADY spoken with them about in Matt13:24,30,39,40,49-50 re: "the end [singular] of the age [singular]" (followed by "the age [singular] to come" Matt12:32 [i.e. the MK]); and that this is parallel time-wise with the Sheep and goat judgment of the nations (see also v.40 in particular), both of which passages are concerning those who are still-living at the time of His Second Coming to the earth (not our Rapture point-in-time), and that the phrase "the kingdom OF THE heavenS" (shown there in vv.11,24,31,33,[38],44,45,47) pertains to the promised and prophesied earthly Millennial Kingdom; etc... That DURING the trib, it is the faithful remnant of Israel (having come to faith WITHIN the trib years [FOLLOWING our Rapture]) who will be the ones sending forth the "INVITATION" TO "the wedding FEAST/SUPPER" (their promised and prophesied earthly MK [and its "G347 - shall sit down [around a table/at a meal]" as in Matt8:11 and parallel]), per Matt24:14(26:13), Matt22:8-14, Rev7 (Matt25:31-34 and context), Dan12:1-4,10, Rev19:9 (distinct from v.7), etc… and much more...]

Have you seen my numerous posts on this? So yes, I do believe it involves also "the world"

I like it! Reminds me of a quote by (if I recall correctly) Sir Robert Anderson, "Men do not find pearls upon the open beach, or nuggets of gold upon the public road."

I'll give you this one, which I'd forgotten at the moment (but have posted on before), but doubt Ice was thinking of it either, when he'd made that comment (who knows) :

[quoting that post]

Consider the following, I've posted before (ignore the middle section [...<snipped>...], as it pertained to the topic of the different thread where I'd first posted this)...

Hebrews 9:8-9 says (in part):

"8 By this the Holy Spirit was signifying that the way into the holy places has not yet been made manifest, the first tabernacle still having a standing [stasin - G4714 (stasis--' from the base of histemi' and related to the words 'apo stasia' [a standing away (from a previous standing)])], 9 which is a symbol ['parable'] for the present time, [...]"

(see also vv.11-12,14,15,23,24,25-28; 10:1-10, esp v.2, vv.12-23; and then also how the "By this" of verse 1 referring back to 7:24-28 among other verses referred back to, by v.8:1)

meaning, a parable for the present time.

And the context referring to the "tabernacle" (like Hebrews chpts 3-4 were talking about; see Heb3:2,4).

[...<snip>...]

[and]

Wm Kelly on Hebrews 9:8-9 -

"for the tabernacle in the wilderness is before the writer, not the temple: so we saw in Heb. 3, 4, and so it is here and throughout. This is evident in the early verses of the chapter, summed up in "these things having been thus formed" or prepared, not only the tabernacle but its furniture; which differed in some essential respects from the temple, for it [the temple] was the figure of the millennial kingdom and rest, as the tabernacle is of the resources of grace in Christ for the wilderness and its pilgrimage [i.e. "the Church which is His body" in this present age]. Hence the ark when set in the [later] temple had neither the golden pot with manna therein nor Aaron's rod that budded (2 Chronicles 5:10), which we find carefully named in verse 4. With such wisdom markedly divine was the scripture inspired in the O.T. as in the N.T."

--William Kelly, Commentary on Hebrews 9 [source: Bible Hub; bold and underline mine; bracketed comments mine, parenthesis original]

[end quoting that post]

very interesting study also on the "golden pot with manna" and "Aaron's rod that budded," by the way...

Ever wonder why, in the middle of talking about "[thy] stewardship" (of vv.1-13) and mentioning how the Pharisees "were covetous" in v.15 and then the "certain rich man" in v.19 (of vv.19-31), that v.18 (in the middle of all this kind of talk) talks about "commiteth adultery"... ever wonder that?