Book Discussion Group
Wednesdays, 7:00-8:15pm, Zoom
These gatherings are a connective time to engage books and one another on various spiritual topics. Our goal is to support one another as we each discover and express God’s Love.
Short Stories by Jesus: The Enigmatic Parables of a Controversial Rabbi by Amy Jill Levine.
Current Discussion:
The renowned biblical scholar, author of The Misunderstood Jew, and general editor for The Jewish Annotated New Testament interweaves history and spiritual analysis to explore Jesus most popular teaching parables, exposing their misinterpretations and making them lively and relevant for modern readers.
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 readers 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 the contemporary reader, showing how the parables are not just about Jesus, but are also about us—and when read rightly, still challenge and provoke us two thousand years later.
Meeting ID: 886 2715 7442 Passcode: 845069
Tentative Reading Schedule:
Mar 19 // Intro
Mar 26 // Ch. 1
(Apr 2 No Meeting)
Apr 9 // Ch. 2
Apr 16 // Ch. 3
Apr 23 // Ch. 4
Apr 30 // Ch. 5
May 7 // Ch. 6
(May 14 No Meeting)
May 21 // Ch. 7
May 28 // Ch. 8
June 4 // Ch. 9
June 11 // Conclusion
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Barbara Brown Taylor’s Holy Envy: Finding God in the Faith of Others