Poet & Peasant and Through Peasant Eyes     by Kenneth E. Bailey The author is Chairman of the Biblical Department at the Near Eastern School of Theology, Beirut. Paperback, 440 pgs. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1994 Order from Amazon.com!

This volume is a combined edition of Poet and Peasant and Through Peasant Eyes, Kenneth Bailey's intensive studies of the parables in the gospel of Luke.

Kenneth Bailey draws on more than twenty years of experience with Middle Eastern peasant culture in his study of the literary structure and cultural milieu of sixteen of Jesus' most significant parables as they are recorded in Luke.  In addition to illuminating the cultural framework of the parables, Bailey offers an analysis of their literary structure, most notably based on chiasmus.  Through its combination of literary and cultural analyses, Bailey's study makes a number of profound advances in parabolic interpretation.

Table of Contents

PART ONE: INTRODUCTION

1. THE PROBLEM AND THE TASK

   The Unfinished Work
   Major Trends in Recent Parabolic Interpretation
   

   (1)The Historical-Eschatological: Dodd and Jeremias
   (2)Jones: Parables as Art
   (3)Linnemann and Via: The Existential Perspective

   Reaction and Assessment: A Remaining Task

    

2. METHODOLOGY (1): THE CULTURAL PROBLEM

   The Basic Problem: Cultural Foreignness
   A Review of Types of Solutions to the Cultural Problem
   Oriental Exegesis: A Proposal
   

   A definition of "Oriental exegesis"
   Ancient literature: its importance and the exegete's problem in assessing it
   The contemporary Middle Eastern peasant and his oral tradition as a tool for recovering the culture of the parables
   

   The archaic nature of his life style Past attempts at gleaning insights from Middle Eastern peasantry
   The unfinished task: its method and its controls

   The significance of the Oriental versions for exegesis

   Discerning the Theological Cluster
   Summary and Conclusions

    

3. METHODOLOGY (2): FOUR TYPES OF LITERARY STRUCTURES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THEIR SIGNIFICANCE FOR THE INTERPRETATION OF PARABLES

   A Review of Past Scholarship on the Question of Literary Structures
   A Definition of Terms
   Four Types of Literary Structures in the New Testament
   

   Type A—Inverted Prose
   Type B—Seven Poetical Forms
   Type C—Poetry Encased in Prose

   Type D—The Parabolic Ballad
   Summary and Conclusions

    

   PART TWO: AN ANALYSIS OF FOUR PARABLES AND TWO POEMS IN THE TRAVEL NARRATIVE OF LUKE

4. THE LITERARY OUTLINE OF THE TRAVEL NARRATIVE (JERUSALEM DOCUMENT): Luke 9:51-19:48
5. EXEGESIS OF LUKE 16:1-13

   The Unjust Steward (16:1-8)
   The Poem on Mammon and God (16:9-13)

6. EXEGESIS OF LUKE 11:5-13

   The Friend at Midnight (11:5-8)
   The Parable/Poem on a Father's Gifts (11:9-13)

7. EXEGESIS OF LUKE 15

   The Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin (15:4-10)
   The Father and the Two Lost Sons (15:11-32)

   CONCLUSIONS

   APPENDIX A. A Brief Description of the Oriental Versions Used in This Study
   APPENDIX B. Resource Persons
   SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
   INDEX OF AUTHORS
   INDEX OF REFERENCES