Parables as persuasive narratives
Funders
Main funder
Funding: Academy of Finland, University of Eastern Finland.
Our values and action are shaped by narratives. The parables of Jesus belong to the most influential of them. But the interpretations are contradictory, as we do not know how they function. This project aims at cracking the code of the parables.
Leaders
This project aims at a paradigm shift in one of the most studied topics: the interpretation of the parables of Jesus. We seek to understand, how these early Jewish narratives were supposed to function in their earliest literary context as appeals to reason and the emotions. In contrast to earlier, mostly theological or historical, approaches, the project strives for a paradigm shift. It applies modern argumentation and emotional analysis, narratology, and data mining. This will result in a comprehensive definition of the parables, new analytical approaches and interpretations. The project will also offer a better basis for using the parables as historical material. In society, the misuse of the parables, for example, in hate speech can be exposed.
The main contributions of the project are:
- Parables as Persuasive Devices – Towards a New Era in Parable Research. WUNT II. Mohr Siebeck, 2025 (forthcoming). Based on Parables as Persuasive Narratives congress with multiple contributors among the most prominent parable scholars.
- Numerous articles in esteemed academic publications
- “Getting Emotional: The Parables of Jesus through Affective Rhetoric and Narrative Persuasion.” PhD diss. 2024.
- Numerous congress presentations in abroad and in Finland
Cooperation
Keywords
Leaders
Post-doctoral Researchers
Publications
5 items-
Getting emotional : the parables of Jesus through affective rhetoric and narrative persuasion
Kyytsönen, Antti. 2024. Itä-Suomen yliopisto -
Cracking the code of Jesus’s parables with argumentation analysis
Thurén, Lauri. 2023. Journal of argumentation in context. 12: 59-76 -
Timothy H. Lim, The Earliest Commentary on the Prophecy of Habakuk, Oxford Commentary on the Dead Sea Scrolls [Recensions]
Antin, Katri. 2023. Revue de qumran. 35: 158-160 -
Early Jewish Parables and Fables as Non-Religious Narratives
Thurén, Lauri. 2022. Sacra scripta. 2021; XIX: 175-189 -
Jesus the Victimizer?
Lauri Thurén. 2014. Approaching religion. 4: 37-50