Speaking in Parables: A Study in Metaphor and Theology

Speaking in Parables offers one of the best treatments ever given to the importance for theology of narrative and story. A theology taking its cue from the parables finds that the genres most closely associated with it are the poem, the novel and the autobiography. These become the prime resources for the theologian who tries to show how insight occurs through language, how one comes to this moment of belief, and how one works it out in one's own life. The author's discussion of important works such as J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, The Violent Bear it Away by Flannery O'Connor, the science fiction of C. S. Lewis and the fantasies of Charles Williams remains as fresh, vital and accessible as it seemed when her book was first published over twenty-five years ago.