Customer Reviews

Kingdom, Grace, Judgment: Paradox, Outrage, and Vindication in the Parables of Jesus

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There's an old saying: "Familiarity breeds contempt." So it is with the parables of Jesus. Everyone thinks they know what he is teaching. So much so, that the contempt committed is against the very heart of the gospel message. Instead of radical, liberating, and scandalous good news, we end up with warmed over ethics, served up on a bed of moralistic legalism, and covered with a layer of heavy-handed, rule laden religion. But that isn't what you get with Capon! Instead of showing age old contempt for the gospel of grace, Father Capon leads his readers to a new awareness of the eternal truth of God's generosity in Christ. It is like a rich delightful meal, that you savor along the way. Once you've feasted there, you can never go back to the "greasy spoon" theology so popular in the Christian sub-culture today. This is three books in one. Previously published in three separate volumes, Kingdom, Grace and Judgment was released in 2002 as one marvelous book. You will not find anything better on the parables of Jesus. Capon divides the teaching ministry of Jesus into three periods and correlating subjects: kingdom, grace and judgment. Each volume brings Jesus closer to the cross, and as it does, the intensity, drama and passion of his message grows exponentially. This as the advertisement says, is "not your Father's Oldsmobile." You will find yourself laughing out loud at the author's outrageous sense of humor, praising out loud for the divine author's generous heart, and weeping with gratitude for the mercy and grace of the crucified and risen Christ! This is the best introduction to the genius, wit and scholarship of Father Capon's works. Read this book and you will never see the gospels the same again! (For more Capon reviews and grace-based teaching, check out Real Life Ministries at http://www.rl-ministries.org)

I have read all three of Capon's books on the Parables and out of sheer enthusiasm given them away to friends. It is so wonderful now to have all three in one volume. As Robert Farrar Capon seems to come at theology and in particular here in this volume, the parables of Jesus, with his own unique vision, it is always pure pleasure to sit down with one of his books again and again for the first time. And then triple that by holding all three of his parable books in one hand. His insights into looking at the parables as descriptive images of God in Christ, rather than homespun advice for us all, is probably one of his greatest contributions to those who find themselves out here in the trenches trying to get back to forgiveness and grace.

Mr. Capon's approach to the parables is a wonderful change. His style is quite readable -- a book that anyone in the pews could engage. He is witty and not stuffy about his subject matter. And yet he is reverent -- he understands of whom he speaks! I've made use of this for sermon preparation. It preaches.

I found out about this book from our priest's wife when we used it for a bible study group. We loved it. Boy the discussions it fostered!! That was back when the three books were seperate and I think we paid almost as much for each book as you can now buy the one combined book for. A great deal. I've given all my copies away and now will buy a couple of these new ones (I already know who I'm giving one to).

This guy is a terrific author and theologen. I love his writing style.

GET THIS BOOK!! You won't be sorry.

This was given to me by a friend a couple of years ago, and sat on a shelf until a month ago - what a mistake! This is excellent theology - not your average interpretation of the gospel story, yet still well within the realm of "orthodoxy". It's well thought out, well presented, and very readable - can't wait to preach some of this stuff.

This book provides an excellent discussion of the meaning of Jesus' parables. I learned so much about Jesus' teachings that I never knew were true. It is a little "wordy" and scholarly, but the information is eye-opening.

I had never read Capon. I didn't know what to expect. I found early on that He and I were looking at the same things with two different colored glasses. His more often than mine with perpetual rosy pink lenses! After reading this work I can't come out and say he is absolutely wrong on anything neither can I say he is right on everything. He starts out going so far to the left side of the path that I would get actually concerned he was going to go off the road into a heretical ditch of universalism but he would pull it back at the last minute just in time to keep from crashing his vehicle usually saving it with just a few sentences at the end of various parables. I felt like I was riding a roller coaster. I would actually get very concerned with where he was going fearing the worst and then he would pull it back toward orthodoxy. Needless I have a bad case of whiplash just having read the parables of the Kingdom, not to mention Grace and Judgment. Even with a sore neck from the experience I am grateful to Capon, I will never look at the parables the same. My perception of Christians and non Christians will also be forever changed because of the different insights I gleaned from this work.

as someone who has dwelt in this mystery that is JESUS for over 30 years,
i find myself reading this book and stunningly finding there
answers to questions that have baffled me for years.

RFC penetrates the PARABLES
--that most mysterious core of the biblical text--
and brings forth fresh fire!

it's impossible to overstate
how profound the insights to be found here are:
it is truly a book that WILL open your eyes
to new and fresh dimensions of the CHRIST event.

in a nutshell,
RFC's jesus is more human than you ever imagined,
which-- paradoxicaly--makes his divinity all the more glorious!

I cannot praise this book and this author highly enough. I read a lot of theology books and what is unique about Capon is that he is just as much of a writer as he is a theologian. A lot of theology books you get these days are from accomplished pastors who don't necessarily have a gift for writing. You can still get good things out of them, but is such a pleasure to read theology from someone who has such a gift for words. As I read the book I felt I was having a profound discussion with an old and wise friend. He masterfully weaves his biting sense of humor in with his no-holds-barred unorthodox-orthodox theology.

What I mean by that is that Capon seems to be saying what the church has always said, but he says it in such a way as to be shocking and sounding like something you've never heard before. He takes grace to its logical extension by being confidently bold in his proclamations of God's unceasing love for the world. He takes the parables of Jesus and slices into them and shows you what is there in ways that will shock you. I've been a Christian for decades and have read the Gospels dozens of times but Capon opens them up in ways that you don't come across very often.

I don't know if I agree with all of his theology, but I so appreciate the lucid way that he states his case for the positions he takes. He doesn't just pick out verses that only support his case, and he doesn't just gloss over things that would seem to be inconsistent with his positions. He sometimes has to bend a scripture to make it fit his case, but unlike anyone else I've ever read, he tells you when he's doing it. And he lets you in on the dirty little secret that ALL theologians have to do some bending of the scripture if they're going to fit it in the box they're trying to expound. Very refreshing.

This is one of the most interesting books on the parables of Jesus that I have ever read. Although it's quite deep, the author interjects a wonderful, dry since of humor in the way he uses a turn of phrase. Capon divides the parables into three groups--parables of the Kingdom, parables of Grace,and parables of Judgment. Often parables are a challenge to figure out because the end of the story has a bit of an O. Henry twist, e.g., the last laborers to show up are paid not only the same pay but also get their check first. Capon not only sheds more than a little light on the subject, but he also places the parable in the context of Jesus' life and the audience to which he is speaking.