In 2011, Dr. Notley with Professor Ze’ev Safrai pioneered a complete anthology of the earliest Jewish parables – Parables of the Sages (see book here).  This collection provides the literary, linguistic and religious background for the parables of Jesus. Since its publication, he has continued his research by asking how this corpus should reimagine our reading of the Gospel parables.   
 
The aim of these sessions are to introduce the participant to the genre of Jewish parables, to look at their development in the early period, to identify similarities and differences between Gospel and Jewish parables, and to ask what difference they should make in our understanding of the parables of Jesus.  This exercise is no small matter.  Parables were the vehicles by which the sages communicated their theological ideas.  If one want to understand fully the theological content of Jesus’ message,  then we must learn to read his parables as Jewish literature.
 
These sessions are instructed by R. Steven Notley, PhD.
Live Sessions will be held on 9/30. 10/7. 10/14. 10/21 (2019)
Courses will be held live over the Zoom platform (Zoom.us)
Once signed up for the live sessions, further instructions will follow.