This book explores what it means to seek the ""voice"" of Jesus"" in his parables through the interpretive keys of literary tropes. Through a detailed discussion of significant periods of parable interpretation, with reference to six narrative parables peculiar to Luke's Gospel, it demonstrates the continued necessity of a creative response to an intention when confronted with figures of speech. Drawing on the long tradition of interpretation, a fresh hearing of the tone of the parables as exemplary tales is suggested, rooted in both the conditions of Jesus's contemporary culture and the Old Testament Scriptures. ""At a time when there is renewed interest in the study of parables, both biblical and in other literature, Dr. Wright's book is at the cutting edge of scholarship. He is equally at home in the Classics of the Christian tradition, in contemporary biblical studies and literary theory as well as the study of rhetoric. His recovery of the 'voice' of the great parables of Luke's Gospel is a masterpiece of interdisciplinarity and should be widely read by both students and scholars."" --David Jasper, University of Glasgow ""So many books have been written on the parables of Jesus that it is now a real challenge to write anything that is significantly original about them. This, however, is what Dr. Wright has succeeded in doing in this sensitive treatment. He brings his particular skills in literary criticism to the task, and the result is a book which genuinely has something fresh to offer to the interpretation of his chosen group of parables."" --I. Howard Marshall, University of Aberdeen Stephen Wright is Director of the College of Preachers, an ecumenical training agency based in London.