David B. Gowler is the Pierce Chair of Religion at Oxford College of Emory University and senior faculty fellow, Center for Ethics, Emory University. He is the author of several books; dozens of articles, book chapters, and book reviews; and is the editor or coeditor of over 30 books. His books on the parables include What are They Saying about the the Parables?, The Parables after Jesus, Howard Thurman: Sermons on the Parables. His current book project is about Howard Thurman and the parables, What Do Parables Want (Paulist Press).
Insights about Jesus' parable from the great theologian Howard Thurman can enhance our appreciation of Dürer's "The Prodigal Son Among the Pigs" and the spiritual journey it can evoke.
The story of Mary and Martha reminds us that we must sit and listen at the feet of Jesus before we go and do. Only then can we have the renewed strength, courage and wisdom for that journey.
Max Beckmann's 1917 painting "Christ and the Sinner" can be read as a call to speak and act as Jesus did: putting ourselves in the role of Jesus in these stories.
Like Rembrandt's paintings, the parables of Jesus illuminates some things as clear as day. Other aspects become clearer as we learn more and more about the first-century contexts of Jesus and his followers.
Art: Adolfo Pérez Esquivel's "Stations of the Cross" paintings espouse Jesus' program of liberation in their images of oppression in Latin America, showing us how to bridge the gap between Jesus' era and our own.
Commentary: Jesus' humorous yet serious warning can be hard to heed as this pandemic is prolonged. It seems the "beams" are in other people's eyes, not ours, and they are blind to both the danger and the solutions.
Art: John Everett Millais' "The Unjust Judge and the Importunate Widow" is almost as intriguing as Jesus' parable on which the image is based: A persistent widow unrelentingly demands justice — just as we should.
Review: Interpretations of Rembrandt's etching of "The Good Samaritan" shed light on divergent yet interlocking ways in which human beings respond to difficult circumstances. One response is founded on hope.
