(RECAP) PREFACE. No apology is deemed necessary for the publication of a new work on the Parables contained in the Gospels. Books of a devotional or homiletical character on some or all of these abound; but of works of a more elaborate and critical description on the subject, the number in the English tongue is small. Without disparagement to such as exist, it is believed that a fresh attempt to unfold in a scholarly yet genial manner the didactic significance of these beautiful sayings of our Lord will not be unwelcome. How far the present publication supplies what is wanted it is for others to judge. A feature of the work is the classification of the parables under general heads, making available thoughtaffinities for the elucidation of their meaning. Another feature is strict adherence to the historical method of exegesis as distinct from the allegorising method pursued by the Fathers, and largely favoured by the chief English writer on the subject, whose strength and weakness both lie in the extent to which he has laid patristic literature under contribution for the interpretation of the parables and the literary enrichment of his pages. The author of this work has sought help from the moderns more than from the ancients. He has kept recent commentators steadily in view, while avoiding the dryness of the commentaries, and abstaining from a parade of authorities. In appreciating the theological import 215 5268 JAN -31917 879374 of the parables he has had regard to the comparative method of New Testament theology, recognising distinct doctrinal types, and noting the resemblances and differences between these. In the ascertainment of the correct text, advantage has been taken of the latest labours of scholars, including, of course, the Revised Version, and the learned and most valuable edition of the Greek Testament edited by Drs. Westcott and Hort. The introduction is confined to a brief explanation of the method adopted for the distribution of the materials which form the subject of study. Occasional observations on topics usually included in general dissertations on the parables will be found scattered throughout the book. THE AUTHOR. Glasgow, September, 1882. |