A parable is a succinct,
didactic
Didacticism is a philosophy that emphasizes instructional and informative qualities in literature, art, and design. In art, design, architecture, and landscape, didacticism is an emerging conceptual approach that is driven by the urgent need to ...
story, in
prose or
verse
Verse may refer to:
Poetry
* Verse, an occasional synonym for poetry
* Verse, a metrical structure, a stanza
* Blank verse, a type of poetry having regular meter but no rhyme
* Free verse, a type of poetry written without the use of strict me ...
, that illustrates one or more instructive lessons or principles. It differs from a
fable in that fables employ
animals,
plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature as characters, whereas parables have human characters. A parable is a type of
metaphorical
analogy
Analogy (from Greek ''analogia'', "proportion", from ''ana-'' "upon, according to" lso "against", "anew"+ ''logos'' "ratio" lso "word, speech, reckoning" is a cognitive process of transferring information or meaning from a particular subject ( ...
.
Some scholars of the
canonical gospels and the
New Testament apply the term "parable" only to the
parables of Jesus,
although that is not a common restriction of the term. Parables such as the
parable of the Prodigal Son
The Parable of the Prodigal Son (also known as the parable of the Two Brothers, Lost Son, Loving Father, or of the Forgiving Father) is one of the parables of Jesus Christ in the Bible, appearing in Luke 15:11–32. Jesus shares the parable with ...
are important to Jesus's teaching method.
Etymology
The word ''parable'' comes from the
Greek παραβολή (''parabolē''), literally "throwing" (''bolē'') "alongside" (''para-''), by extension meaning "comparison, illustration, analogy." It was the name given by Greek
rhetoricians to an illustration in the form of a brief fictional
narrative.
History
The
Bible contains numerous parables in the
Gospels of the
New Testament (
Jesus's parables). These are believed by some scholars (such as
John P. Meier) to have been inspired by ''
mashalim'', a form of Hebrew comparison prominent in the
Talmudic period
The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the center ...
(c. 2nd-6th centuries CE).
[ John P. Meier, '' A Marginal Jew'', volume II, Doubleday, 1994.] Examples of Jesus' parables include the
Good Samaritan and the
Prodigal Son
The Parable of the Prodigal Son (also known as the parable of the Two Brothers, Lost Son, Loving Father, or of the Forgiving Father) is one of the parables of Jesus Christ in the Bible, appearing in Luke 15:11–32. Jesus shares the parable with ...
. Mashalim from the
Old Testament
The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...
include the parable of the ewe-lamb (told by
Nathan
Nathan or Natan may refer to:
People
*Nathan (given name), including a list of people and characters with this name
*Nathan (surname)
*Nathan (prophet), a person in the Hebrew Bible
* Nathan (son of David), biblical figure, son of King David an ...
in 2 Samuel 12:1-9) and the parable of the woman of Tekoah (in 2 Samuel 14:1-13 ).
Parables also appear in
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
. In
Sufi
Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ...
tradition, parables are used for imparting lessons and values. Recent authors such as
Idries Shah and
Anthony de Mello have helped popularize these stories beyond Sufi circles.
Modern parables also exist. A mid-19th-century example, the
parable of the broken window, criticises a part of
economic thinking.
Characteristics
A parable is a short tale that illustrates a universal truth; it is a simple
narrative. It sketches a setting, describes an
action, and shows the results. It may sometimes be distinguished from similar narrative types, such as the
allegory
As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a hidden meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory th ...
and the
apologue
An apologue or apolog (from the Greek ἀπόλογος, a "statement" or "account") is a brief fable or allegorical story with pointed or exaggerated details, meant to serve as a pleasant vehicle for a moral doctrine or to convey a useful lesson ...
.
[ See entry at simile and metaphor.]
A parable often involves a character who faces a
moral
A moral (from Latin ''morālis'') is a message that is conveyed or a lesson to be learned from a story or event. The moral may be left to the hearer, reader, or viewer to determine for themselves, or may be explicitly encapsulated in a maxim. A ...
dilemma or one who makes a bad decision and then suffers the
unintended consequences. Although the meaning of a parable is often not explicitly stated, it is not intended to be hidden or secret but to be quite straightforward and obvious.
The defining characteristic of the parable is the presence of a
subtext suggesting how a person should behave or what he should believe. Aside from providing guidance and suggestions for proper conduct in one's life, parables frequently use metaphorical language which allows people to more easily discuss difficult or complex ideas. Parables express an
abstract argument by means of using a concrete narrative which is easily understood.
The allegory is a more general narrative type; it also employs
metaphor. Like the parable, the allegory makes a single, unambiguous point. An allegory may have multiple noncontradictory interpretations and may also have implications that are ambiguous or hard to interpret. As
H.W. Fowler put it, the object of both parable and allegory "is to enlighten the hearer by submitting to him a case in which he has apparently no direct concern, and upon which therefore a disinterested judgment may be elicited from him, ..."
The parable is more condensed than the allegory: it rests upon a single
principle
A principle is a proposition or value that is a guide for behavior or evaluation. In law, it is a Legal rule, rule that has to be or usually is to be followed. It can be desirably followed, or it can be an inevitable consequence of something, suc ...
and a single moral, and it is intended that the reader or listener shall conclude that the moral applies equally well to his own concerns.
Parables of Jesus
Medieval interpreters of the Bible often treated
Jesus' parables as allegories, with symbolic
correspondences found for every element in his parables. But modern scholars, beginning with
Adolf Jülicher, regard their interpretations as incorrect.
[Adolf Jülicher, ''Die Gleichnisreden Jesu'' (2 vols; Tübingen: Mohr iebeck 1888, 1899).] Jülicher viewed some of Jesus’ parables as similitudes (extended similes or metaphors) with three parts: a picture part (''Bildhälfte''), a reality part (''Sachhälfte''), and a ''
tertium comparationis''. Jülicher held that Jesus' parables are intended to make a single important point, and most recent scholarship agrees.
Gnostics
Gnosticism (from grc, γνωστικός, gnōstikós, , 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems which coalesced in the late 1st century AD among Jewish and early Christian sects. These various groups emphasized pe ...
suggested that Jesus kept some of his teachings secret within the circle of his disciples and that he deliberately obscured their meaning by using parables. For example, in
Mark 4:11–12:
The idea that coded meanings in parables would only become apparent when a listener had been given additional information or initiated into a higher set of teachings is supported by ''
The Epistle of Barnabas,'' reliably dated between AD 70 to 132:
For if I should write to you concerning things immediate or future, ye would not understand them, because they are put in parables. So much then for this.
Another important component of the parables of Jesus is their participatory and spontaneous quality. Often, but not always, Jesus creates a parable in response to a question from his listeners or an argument between two opposing views. This style, often associated with the
Socratics, endeared Jesus to the populations where he taught.
Quranic parables
The
Quran's
Q39:28-30 boasts "every kind of
parable
A parable is a succinct, didactic story, in prose or verse, that illustrates one or more instructive lessons or principles. It differs from a fable in that fables employ animals, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature as characters, w ...
in the Quran". The
Quranic verses include parables of the good and evil tree (
Q14:32-45),
of the two men, and
of the spider's house.
Q16:77 contains the parable of the slave and his master, followed by the parable of the blind man and the sighted.
Other figures of speech
The parable is related to
figures of speech such as the metaphor and the
simile. A parable is like a metaphor in that it uses concrete, perceptible phenomena to illustrate abstract ideas. It may be said that a parable is a metaphor that has been extended to form a brief, coherent narrative. A parable also resembles a simile, i.e., a metaphorical construction in which something is said to be "like" something else (e.g., "The just man is like a tree planted by streams of water"). However, unlike the meaning of a simile, a parable's meaning is implicit (although not secret).
Examples
*
Akhfash's goat Akhfash's goat (; ) is a Persian parable in which a philosopher trains his pet goat to nod its head when asked if it had understood a book that it was shown. The term "Akhfash's goat" refers to a person who nods along with a conversation
Conve ...
– a Persian parable
*
Hercules at the crossroads – an ancient Greek parable
* Parables by
Ignacy Krasicki, from his 1779 book ''
Fables and Parables
''Fables and Parables'' (''Bajki i przypowieści'', 1779), by Ignacy Krasicki (1735–1801), is a work in a long international tradition of fable-writing that reaches back to antiquity. Krasicki's fables and parables have been described as bein ...
'':
**
Abuzei and Tair
**
The Blind Man and the Lame
"The Blind Man and the Lame" is a fable that recounts how two individuals collaborate in an effort to overcome their respective disabilities. The theme is first attested in Greek about the first century BCE. Stories with this feature occur in Asi ...
**
The Drunkard
''The Drunkard; or, The Fallen Saved'' is an American temperance play first performed on February 12, 1844.
**
The Farmer
**
Son and Father
*
The Rooster Prince – a Hasidic parable
See also
*
Allegory
As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a hidden meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory th ...
*
Amplification (rhetoric)
Amplification or Amplified or Amplify may refer to:
Science and technology
* Amplification, the operation of an amplifier, a natural or artificial device intended to make a signal stronger
* Amplification (molecular biology), a mechanism leading t ...
*
Exemplification
References
External links
''Jewish Encyclopedia'': ParableSecular Parables
{{Authority control
Christian genres
Fiction
Folklore
Meaning in religious language
Narrative techniques
Persuasion techniques
Rhetorical techniques
Short story types
Spirituality
Traditional stories