The Rabbis' King-Parables: Midrash From the Third-Century Roman Empire examines the ancient Rabbis at work using parables about kings; parables that reflect the Rabbis' ideas about the role of the ruler in society, and the relationship of humanity to God. It considers the parables as resistance literature in light of the work of theorists of dominated groups. It is the first systematic attempt to read the parables as sources for Roman history in over 100 years.

Contenu

Table of Contents (page 7) Acknowledgments (page 9) Introduction (page 11) Chapter 1: Methodology for Identifying Third-Century King-Parables (page 17)

Introducing the Rabbis (page 17)
Using ?DocumentsZ (page 28)
Identifying Third-Century Documents (page 36)
Identifying Third-Century Material in Later Documents (page 40) Chapter 2:Identifying and Classifying the Third-Century Rabbinic King-parables (page 47)
Kings and Their Sons (page 51)
Kings, Their Friends and Their Wives (page 57)
Periodization (page 60)
The Parables by Period (page 64)
King-parablesZ in Ziegler's Work that Are Not Third-Century King Parables (page 68) Chapter 3: Form and Structure (page 75)
Direct Parables (page 75)
Antithetical Parables (page 94)
Formless Parables (page 100) Chapter 4: The Figure of the King (page 107) Chapter 5: Functions (page 129) King-Parables Used in the Work of Interpreting Scripture (page 129)
Using Parables in Exegesis (page 130)
Assigning all the work to the entire parable (page 132) Employing King-Parables to Illustrate, Expand, Augment, Supplement or Complete Earlier Exegesis (page 138)
Reading Verses Together (page 144)
Tying verses together (page 145)
Reconciling verses (page 148)
Interpreting a verse via another verse (page 150) When Exegesis Using King-Parables Included the Rabbis' ?PoliticalZ Views (page 158) Using King-parables in the Rabbis' Pastoral Work (page 163) Chapter 6: Settings (page 167) Chapter 7: The Figure of God (page 185) Chapter 8: Third-century King-Parables as Resistance Literature (page 203) Introduction (page 203) First Readings (page 205) Getting Help from Contemporary Theory (page 211)
Postcolonial Studies (page 213)
James C. Scott: Domination and the Arts of Resistance (page 221) Chapter 9: Third-Century King-Parables as a Source of Roman History (page 233)
The T4/Early Severan Period: Severus and Caracalla (page 242)
The T5/Later Severan Period: Macrinus, Elagabal and Severus Alexander (page 248)
The A1/Midcentury Period: Maximinus, the Gordians, Philip, Decius, Gallus and Aemilianus (page 252)
The A2/Divided Empire Period: Valerian, Gallienus, A Separate Empire in the West, Odenathus of Palmyra, and Claudius II (page 260)
The A3/Reunited Empire and Transitional Periods: Aurelian, Zenobia of Palmyra and Others (page 274)
In Conclusion (page 278) Appendix: Jesus' King-Parables (page 281) Introducing Jesus (page 282) Using Documents (page 285) Identifying and Categorizing Jesus' King-Parables (page 287) Sayings That Are Not King-Parables (page 289) The Form and Structure of Jesus' King-Parables (page 290)
Jesus' Direct Parables (page 291)
Jesus' Antithetical King-Parables (page 293)
Jesus' Formless King-Parables (page 294) The Figure of the King in Jesus' King-Parables (page 297) The Functions of Jesus' King-Parables (page 298)
?LegalZ Parables (page 299)
An Excursus on Scriptural Exegesis with Parables (page 299)
Instructional Parables (page 302)
Comforting and Encouraging Parables (page 302)
Rhetorical Parables (page 303) The Settings of Jesus' King-Parables (page 303) The Figure of God in Jesus' King-Parables (page 305) Bibliography (page 307) General Index (page 323) Scripture Index (page 341)