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Author Raschko, Mary, author

Title The politics of Middle English parables : fiction, theology, and social practice / Mary Raschko
Published Manchester (England) : Manchester University Press, [2019]

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Description 1 online resource
Series Manchester medieval literature and culture ; 23
Manchester medieval literature and culture ; 23.
Contents Front matter; Dedication; Contents; Acknowledgements; Introduction; Teaching unreasonable tales: the parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard; Stories for revising the self: the parable of the Prodigal Son; Examinations of social conscience: the parable of Dives and Lazarus; Ethical allegories: the parable of the Good Samaritan; Paradox formed into story: the parables of the Wedding Feast and Great Supper; Epilogue: Writing parabolic fiction: Langland's pardon episode; Bibliography; Index
Summary The politics of Middle English parables examines the dynamic intersection of fiction, theology and social practice in late-medieval England. Parables occupy a prominent place in Middle English literature, appearing in dream visions and story collections as well as in lives of Christ and devotional treatises. While most scholarship approaches the translated stories as stable vehicles of Christian teaching, this book highlights the many variations and points of conflict across Middle English renditions of the same story. In parables related to labour, social inequality, charity and penance, the book locates a creative theological discourse through which writers attempted to re-construct Christian belief and practice. Analysis of these diverse retellings reveals not what a given parable meant in a definitive sense but rather how Middle English parables inscribe the ideologies, power structures and cultural debates of late-medieval Christianity
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Print version record
SUBJECT Bible -- Parables. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85013692
Bible fast
Subject English literature -- Middle English, 1100-1500 -- History and criticism
Politics in literature.
Religion in literature.
HISTORY -- Europe -- Western.
LITERARY CRITICISM -- European -- English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh.
LITERARY CRITICISM -- Medieval.
English literature -- Middle English
Politics in literature
Religion in literature
Genre/Form Literary criticism
Criticism, interpretation, etc.
Parables
Literary criticism.
Critiques littéraires.
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9781526131188
1526131188