Short Stories by Jesus

The Enigmatic Parables of a Controversial Rabbi

By: Amy-Jill Levine

Narrated by: Donna Postel

Jesus was a skilled storyteller and perceptive teacher who used parables from everyday life to effectively convey his message and meaning. Life in first-century Palestine was very different from our world today, and many traditional interpretations of Jesus' stories ignore this disparity and have often allowed anti-Semitism and misogyny to color their perspectives.

In this wise, entertaining, and educational book, Amy-Jill Levine offers a fresh, timely reinterpretation of Jesus' narratives. In Short Stories by Jesus, she analyzes these "problems with parables", taking us back in time to understand how their original Jewish audience understood them. Levine reveals the parables' connections to first-century economic and agricultural life, social customs and morality, Jewish scriptures, and Roman culture. With this revitalized understanding, she interprets these moving stories for a contemporary listener, showing how the parables are not just about Jesus, but are also about us - and when understood rightly, still challenge and provoke us 2,000 years later.

©2014 Amy-Jill Levine (P)2017 Tantor

Critic reviews

"As the text enlightens, it also emboldens critical application of Jesus's ancient stories to modern hearts and minds." ( Publishers Weekly starred review)

Great perspective for reading the parables

I'll have to give it a second listen to fully grasp some of the concepts the author teaches, might be the preconception from years of reading the parables without ridding myself of that interpretation.

Superb

Great scholarship and clarity. Great unconventional yet convincing analysis of texts that I did not think had still so much to say. Highly recommend.

eye opener

Amy really breaks Jesus word down and showed where his meaning was coming from, she does a great job at looking how we a 21st Century reader misses a lot of points Jesus was trying to make just by our different interpretations.

Informative, interesting, and enjoyable

The readers voice pleasant to the ears and the book causes one to pause and think.

Decent for Bible Study

We used this book for a small group Bible study. I would say 1/2 of the parable discussion from the author was good, that it made you think in ways that haven't traditionally been part of the 15 minute church sermon. Two things did however stand out. In the other 1/2 of the chapters, the author seems to go too deep, just for the sake of going deep, despite the Bible author even laying out the meaning in 1 case. The other thing is the lecturing. It almost feels like every Christian is being accused of being antisemitic, on several occasions in this book, it was noticeable, and I didn't care for it. That being said, I still found the book and study very interesting for the most part.