THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
Greek is connected with the Biblical Greek. Especially valuable are the contributions made to the lexicography of Biblical Greek. And a further service is done in giving a realistic sense of one of the fields in which the early seed of Christianity was sown, since the men of the period are made to live again, are shown at their work and under their anxieties, in their distance from God and in their sighing for him. This is especially true of the men of the lower and middle classes, among whom the Gospel found its chief success. To him who has more than a mere philological interest and whose eye is not content with a mere surface view of things, these documents will bring rich results in an enlarged knowledge of civilization and religion. Even technical theological science benefits when the historical background receives illumination.
(A. Deissmann.) Bibliography: On the paleography consult: F. G. Kenyon, Palaeography of Greek Papyri, Oxford, 1899; U. Wilcken, Tafeln zur alteren griechischen Palaographie, Leipsic, 1891; E. A. Thompson, Handbook of Greek and Latin Palaeography, London, 1893; C. Wessely, Papyrorum Scriptural Gr&cce specimina isagogica, ib. 1900. For introductory studies consult U. Wilcken, Die griechischen Papyrusurkunden, Berlin, 1897; idem, in Neue Jahrbilcher fur das klassische Altertum, 1901, pp. 677-691. The most important works bearing on the relation of the papyri to the Bible and Christianity are G. A. Deissmann, Bibelstudien, Neue Bibelstudien, 2 vols., Marburg, 1895-97, 2d ed., Tubingen, 1911, Eng. transl. of both volumes, Bible Studies. Contributions chiefly from Papyri and Inscriptions to the Hist, of the Language, the Literature, and the Religion of Hellenistic Judaism and Primitive Christianity, Edinburgh, 1901, 2d ed., 1903; to be noted also are his publications cited in the text, and his Die sprachliche Erforschung der griechischen Bibel, ihr gegenwartiger Stand und ihre Aufgaben, Giessen, 1898; also Licht von Osten, Tubingen, 1908, 3d ed., 1909, Eng. transl., Light from the Ancient East, London, 1910; J. H. Moulton, in the Classical Review, xv (1901), 31-38; idem, in The Expositor, Apr., 1901, Feb. and Dec, 1903; idem, Grammar of New Testament Greek, vol. i., consult index, Edinburgh, 1906, 3d ed., 1908; G. Milligan, Selections from the Greek Papyri, Cambridge, 1910; E. Buonaiuti, Saggi di Filologia e Storia del Nuovo Testamento, Rome, 1910. A journal is issued under the editorship of XJ. Wilcken, Archiv fur Papyrus forschung, Leipsic, 1900 sqq.; cf. C. Wessely, Studien zur Palaographie und Papyruskunde, ib. 1901 sqq. The Archceological Reports of the Egypt Exploration Fund should also be consulted; also P. Viereck, Jahresbericht uber die Fortschritte der klassischen Altertumswissenschaft, xcviii (1898), III., 135—186, cii (1899), III., 244-311.
PARABLES OF JESUS CHRIST.
Meaning and Content of the Term (§ 1). Non-Biblical Treatment (§ 2). Synoptics' Use of the Term (§ 3). Number and Character of the Parables (§ 4). The Transmission Essentially Faithful (§ 5). The Object of the Parable (§ 6). Its Essential Characteristics (§ 7). Principles of Interpretation (§8). ~-The Essential Value of the Parables (§ 9). History of Interpretation (§ 10).
Parable is a loan word taken over from the New Testament, where it is a derivative from paraballesthai, " to place beside," i.e., for purposes of comparison (Mark iv. 30 and the parallels). It is the usual designation of groups of illustrative or pictorial or gnomic teachings of Jesus, and occurs most frequently in the Synoptie Gospels. Jesus himself used it (Matt. xiii. 18 and the parallels), and the compilers of the Gospels employ it, Matthew seventeen times, Mark thirteen times, Luke eight-
een times. Elsewhere it occurs only in Heb. ix. 9 xi. 19. The Fourth Gospel does not use it, but has the synonym paroimia. It appears to i. Meaning be a word taken over from the Septuaand Content gint, since in Matt. xiii. 35, at the close of the Term, of a group of parables that form of teaching is said to be a fulfilment of Ps. lxxviii. 2, where the Septuagint translates by the word the Hebrew mashal. Synonyms in the Septuagint and the Apocrypha are paroimia, diegema, ainigma. The early Christian lexicographers employed it in various senses, such as " riddle " " trope," " example," " aphorism," " proverb," " comparison." The word covers in the Septuagint a variety of forms of expression, such as the fables of Jotham (Judges ix. 7 sqq.) and Joash (II Chron. xxv. 18), the riddle of Samson (Judges xiv. 14), the teaching of Nathan (II Sam. xii. 1 sqq.), and the allegories of Ezekiel. In classical Greek the word has also a technical sense in logic and rhetoric, and was discussed by Plato and Socrates. The parable of Socrates and the " example " of Plato are parallel with the parables of Jesus. The essence of both is that the matter under discussion is illuminated by comparisons brought from some other realm of experience or fact. The difference between the fable and the parable is that the former is a creation of fancy, the latter a statement of relations based on observation of realities.
Aristotle's theory was all-powerful in ancient rhetoric, and it laid stress upon this form of expression as a means of proof or argument. Numerous examples of its employment are found in the older literature, the best-known of which is the fable of Menenius Agrippa. [Roman consul 503 B.C.; d. 493. His parable told of the insurrection of the other members of the body that arrayed themselves against the stomach, which they thought to be the idle consumer of nourishment, and so brought damage to themselves.] Its popularity may be illustrated by the fact that in Plato's Republic ^Esop was given a place while one was denied to Homer. Socrates is famous for his use of the 2. Non- fable and the comparison, as, for ex- Biblical ample, in his use of the story of Prodi- Treatment, kos (Xenophon, Memorabilia, II., i. 21-34). In this last case the personification of virtue and lust, the use of Hercules out of mythology, and the purpose and method of the entire story give the whole narration the character of a parable. Seneca treats well of the parable (Epist. ad Lucilium, lix. 6), putting imagines and parabola; side by side as methods of teaching by comparison. Cicero and Quintilian mean the same thing when they equate similitudo and collatio. And in this literature parallels to Christie teaching are abundant, as in Dio Chrysostom (Oratio xxx. 28- 29) and especially in Epictetus. There is, of course, in the examples just adduced no question of literary dependence. They illustrate the dictum that in this form of discourse the truth underlies the argument, and only the form of narration is fictitious. Man thinks first in analogies and personifications, and he continues to think and illustrate his thoughts in these forms.