Parable
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An ill digested lesson
The Governess. "And now, what is a Parable, Effie?"
Effie (who has got rather muddled). "A Parable? Oh, of course, a Parable is a Heavenly story with an Earthly meaning!"
From Punch, Vol. 103, October 29, 1892 |
A
parable is a story in prose or verse that is told to illustrate a (perhaps covert) religious or ethical idea.
The word comes from the Greek
παραβολή, which was the name given by
Greek rhetoricians to any fictive illustration in the form of a brief narrative. Later it came to mean a fictitious narrative or
allegory, generally but not always to something that might naturally occur, by which spiritual and sometimes moral matters are conveyed.
The
prototypical parable differs from the
apologue in that it is an inherently probable and realistic story, one taking place in some familiar setting of life. In its brevity and succinctness a parable is like a
fable; it differs from the
fable by excluding animals that assume speech and other powers of humankind, as in
Aesop's Fables; many
fairy tales would be viewed as extended parables, except for their magical settings. In a preface to his translation of
Aesop's Fables George Fyler Townsend defined
parable thus: "The Parable is the designed use of language purposely intended to convey a hidden and secret meaning other than that contained in the words themselves, and which may or may not bear a special reference to the hearer, or reader".
A parable is like a
metaphor that has been extended to form a brief, coherent fiction. Unlike a
simile, its parallel meaning is unspoken, implicit, but not ordinarily secret, though "to speak in parables" has come to suggest obscurity.
Parables are the simplest of narratives: they sketch a setting, describe an action and its result; they often involve a character facing a particular moral dilemma, or making a questionable decision and then suffering the consequences of that choice. Though not every moral narrative is a parable, many
folktales would be viewed as extended parables. Though parables often have a strong prescriptive subtext, suggesting how a person should behave or believe, many parables simply explore a concept from a neutral point of view. Aside from providing guidance and suggestions for proper action in life, parables offer a metaphorical language which allows people to discuss difficult or complex ideas more easily. Recently there has been some interest in the field of contemporary parable, exploring how modern stories can be used as parables in our current culture. For a mid-19th century contemporary parable, see the
Parable of the broken window that exposes a fallacy in economic thinking.
Parables are strongly favored in the expression of spiritual concepts. The best known specific source of parables in the western world is perhaps the
Bible, which contains numerous parables. Besides the familiar
parables of Jesus in the
New Testament, such as the
Good Samaritan and the
Prodigal Son, there are many examples of parable in the
Old Testament, for instance the parable of the ewe-lamb told by
Nathan in , or that of the woman of Tekoah in .
Parable and allegory are often treated as synonyms, but are well distinguished by
H. W. Fowler, in
Modern English Usage. "The object in each" said Fowler, "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." It then dawns upon the listener or reader that the conclusion applies equally well to his own concerns.
As Fowler distinguished them, parable is more condensed than allegory: a single principle comes to bear, and a single moral is deduced. Medieval biblical criticism often treated Jesus's parables as detailed allegories, with symbolic correspondences found for every element in the brief narratives, but modern critics universally regard these interpretations as inappropriate and untenable.
Like a fable's narration, a parable should relate one simple, consistent action without extraneous detail nor distracting circumstances. In
Plato's
The Republic, parables like the shadows in the cave encapsulate an abstract argument into a concrete, more easily grasped narrative.
*
Fables and Parables by
Ignacy Krasicki *
List of New Testament stories#Parables told by Jesus *
Parables of Jesus*
List of biblical parables.
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Analysis of biblical parables.
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Parables in the Quran by
ClearVisionPk *
Jewish Encyclopedia: Parable.
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Catholic Encyclopedia: Parable.
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Definition by
George Fyler Townsend.
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Collection of modern parables with personal and business applications .
