Parables in Midrash: Narrative and Exegesis in Rabbinic Literature - Tapa dura

Well-written, comprehensible to the nonexpert and thorough in its description of material and in its use of modern literary criticism.--Anthony J. Saldarini "Theological Studies " Stern argues persuasively that...the mashal's narrative becomes in itself a distinctly rabbinic form of scriptural exegesis. Stern's comparative discussions of parables ascribed to Jesus and the use of the mashal in later Hebrew literature make this book of great interest to students of New Testament, rabbinics, and literary theory.--Martin S. Jaffee "Religious Studies Review " "Parables in Midrash" is one of the most sophisticated and mature works on rabbinic literature in this century. . . All readers will find the book an extremely valuable synthesis of cutting-edge methodologies, thorough knowledge of textual traditions, and the best exegesis of traditional literature the academy has to offer.--Burton L. Visotzky "Catholic Biblical Quarterly "

Midrash - biblical interpretation as practiced by the rabbinic sages in late antiquity - is both a repository of classical Jewish tradition and a self-defining literary mode. The parable, or mashal, is the most distinctive type of narrative in midrash. David Stern shows how the mashal was composed, how its symbolism works, and how it serves to convey the ideological convictions of the rabbis. He describes its relation to similar tales in other literatures, including the parables of Jesus in the New Testament, and to kabbalistic parables. Drawing upon work in the fields of oral literature and narrative theory and using representative examples from a wide range of classic Jewish texts, all translated into English, he demonstrates how story and exegesis join in midrash to give rabbinic interpretation its unique character. "Parables in Midrash" illuminates a number of issues: the rabbis' conception of God, ancient techniques of representation, the responses of the sages to historical catastrophe, the relationship of rabbinic Judaism to Rome and to early Christianity, and the place of midrash in Jewish tradition. The final chapter traces the history of the mashal from its roots in the ancient Near Eastern fable to its application by modernist writers like Agnon.