I need to start this review with a confession: I have not finished the book. And I do not plan on doing so. I don’t think that’s a problem, though, because Stiller has been doing the same thing for the last 60 pages and leafing through the last 80, he’s going to continue on until the end. So if he denies the virgin birth in the last 15 pages and I don’t comment on that…my bad.
Stiller devotes the first section of his book to introduce postmodernism. The second part explains what parables are and how they function. The third section goes through ten parables with exegetical and expositional discussions. The final section consists of four sample sermon manuscripts. I stopped reading most of the way through section three because I think I get his point.
I picked up this book hoping to gain insight into preaching to postmoderns. What I got instead was an excellent exegetical introduction to parables. I read Craig Blomberg’s Preaching the Parables: From Responsible Interpretation to Powerful Proclamation a year ago and was sorely disappointed. First of all, Blomberg, in my opinion, failed to disprove the one-point interpretive approach to parables in favor of a “each main character gets his own point” approach. More importantly, Blomberg dealt with parables as sealed off units rather than parts of a greater narrative in the gospels. He dealt, for instance, with the Good Samaritan as a story unto itself without asking the most important question: Why does Luke include this parable? That is why Stiller’s work was so refreshing. Part of the interpretation of each one of his parables is the question of literary context. Thus, Luke’s account of a parable will have its own flavor and purpose while Matthew’s account of the very same one might be different. This aspect alone makes Stiller’s book a must-have when purchasing resources for parable-study. And it’s cheap, too!
The reason I bought the book, though, was because it had “postmodern” in its title. Nice marketing ploy. Unfortunately it doesn’t live up to that aspect of its title. Stiller’s 9 page introduction to postmodernism is VERY broad and VERY general. The basic concept is: Postmoderns like stories; parables are stories; postmoderns will like parables. He gives a “preaching window for postmoderns” for each of his parables. But that’s all he does. And even that seems forced at times and filled with generalities about postmodernism.
Bottom line: Buy the book if you want to study parables. It’s cheaper and much better than Blomberg’s. But don’t expect suddenly to be able to connect with postmoderns in your congregation because of it.
