Parables of Judgement

Robert Farrar Capon has earned a well-deserved reputation as a provocative, insightful, humorous, and highly readable theologian. He communicates the mysteries, nuances, and profundities of the Christian faith in his inimitable style, which is more like a conversation with the reader than a theological lecture.Having written about the so-called parables of the kingdom and the parables of grace in two earlier volumes, Capon here deals with the parables of judgment—spoken as well as acted during the last part of Jesus ministry, primarily during Holy Week. Capon points out how Jesus message of judgment differed from the notions of both his enemies and his friends, who were looking for a strong, hell-bound condemnation of all evildoers. Jesus, in contrast, presents divine judgment against the backdrop of grace. Indeed, Capon argues, the key to the parables of judgment is inclusion before exclusion, acceptance before judgment: grace ever remains the sovereign consideration. Including such parables as the Laborers in the Vineyard, the Raising of Lazarus, the Talents, the Cursing of the Fig Tree, the Wicked Tenants, and the Ten Virgins, Capon treats each parable in its immediate context and in the wider biblical context and message of grace. He shows how Jesus impending passion and death form a most significant subtext for the parables of judgment. This book should appeal to a wide readership: scholars, ministers, students, and general readers alike will enjoy and benefit from Capon s stimulating exposition of Jesus last parables.