Parable Stories

This collection of short fiction by a seasoned
Presbyterian pastor who now serves as the Assistant
Dean for Ministerial Studies at Yale Divinity School,
explores both the literary and theological structure
of the Biblical parables by responding to them with
new parables, stories that re-frame the Biblical
teaching in contemporary terms. Accompanying essays
provide the context for this collection, asking
whether short fiction, and if the artistic process in
general, might rise to the level of what Reformed
Theology will call the Word of God proclaimed.
Beginning with John Calvin and other Christian
Reformers, the essays argue that the unrestricted
creative process can be life-giving to the often
tiresome homiletic form. Goettler concludes that
using Biblical parables as muse serves to till the
soil, making the reader ever more ready to hear the
proclamation of faith.

Autorentext

William Goettler is the Assistant Dean of Ministerial Studies at
Yale Divinity School. He is also the Co-Pastor at First
Presbyterian Church of New Haven, sharing ministry with his wife,
Maria LaSala. They have one daughter, Anna.

Klappentext

This collection of short fiction by a seasoned
Presbyterian pastor who now serves as the Assistant
Dean for Ministerial Studies at Yale Divinity School,
explores both the literary and theological structure
of the Biblical parables by responding to them with
new parables, stories that re-frame the Biblical
teaching in contemporary terms. Accompanying essays
provide the context for this collection, asking
whether short fiction, and if the artistic process in
general, might rise to the level of what Reformed
Theology will call the Word of God proclaimed.
Beginning with John Calvin and other Christian
Reformers, the essays argue that the unrestricted
creative process can be life-giving to the often
tiresome homiletic form. Goettler concludes that
using Biblical parables as muse serves to till the
soil, making the reader ever more ready to hear the
proclamation of faith.