Joachim Jeremias' The Parables of Jesus is a classic of twentieth-century New Testament scholarship. However, to appreciate its original form to the full calls for a knowledge of Greek, and patience to work through much technical and linguistic material. Aware of this, before he died the author worked on a shorter and simplified version which was subsequently also translated into English.
'This is an excellent idea, because a book which became for many students a gateway into a new understanding of the parables is now available, in its main substance, to a much wider group of...