The importance of the parables can hardly be overestimated. They comprise a substantial part of the recorded preaching of Jesus. The parables are generally regarded by scholars as among the sayings ...

My father loved parables — stories that taught, stories that presented ideas and morals in ways that made pictures in people's minds. … Because he believed stories were so important as teaching tools.

In Resident Aliens, Stanley Hauerwas and I warned that seminary biblical courses sometimes disempower budding preachers: See? You’ll never have the linguistic, analytical, or historical skills to ...