Customer Reviews

Modern Parables: Living in the Kingdom of God (Guide, Book & DVD Set)

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Modern Parables: Living in the Kingdom of God is an original Bible study curriculum designed for people who like movies and is just the first in a planned series of film-driven studies on the parables of Jesus. The films are geared towards use for youth groups, small groups, evangelism or even home schooling curriculum. Volume 1 features six of Jesus' parables, told anew through film and set in a contemporary context.

The 12-lesson study combines cinema and theology in short dramatic films that exegete (or explain) Jesus' parables. In other words, just watching the films helps teach the historical, grammatical, contextual and interpretive elements in the parables. Modern Parables lets people grasp the parables at an immediate, gut level. This emotional immediacy enables them to engage the Bible in a powerful and compelling new way.

Each parable is covered in two lessons. The first lesson is geared towards understanding the parable. Viewers watch the dramatization, ask questions about it, teach and then discuss the parable. In the second lesson viewers watch the application video, ask questions about the application video and then review the film and discuss the parable. Each of the application videos features a different pastor (some of whom you may recognize) simply providing basic teaching about the parable and then bringing a few words of application.

The films are entirely suitable for family viewing and, in fact, once we watched the first, my children pretty well demanded that we watch the rest. So we watched all six of them in an evening and spent right up until bed time discussing what the parables mean and asking why Jesus would share those stories. As the films began to play my children would suddenly grasp the story, remembering it from the Bible, and would find themselves absorbed in them. The only thing parents may want to watch out for with the children is the word "whores" shouted near the conclusion of the Prodigal Sons film (as in "he spent all his money on cars and whores..."). This word is, of course, implied in the story so does not seem out of place.

Of course this films are not intended primarily for children. Though I have not been able to use these materials in a Bible study setting, I suspect they would prove exceedingly useful for that purpose. Both a Teacher's Guide and a Student Book are available. The DVD box set includes the DVDs, an Audio Teacher Prep CD, a Teacher's Guide, and Student Book. The DVDs also feature director's commentary which I found very interesting.

I think some of these stories impacted me on a level that the original stories have not for some time. It sounds terrible to write this, but somehow, through repeated retelling and study, so many of the parables have lost some of their punch. But to see them in a new context challenged me anew to grasp their significance. And, I thought, this must have been how Jesus' disciples felt as they heard the stories for the first time. I may not understand what it was like to hear a story in which a Pharisee passed by a bleeding, injured man, only to have a Samaritan stop to help him, but I can feel some of that impact in watching a deacon and a youth pastor walk on by only to have an Arab taxi driver comfort the man and care for his needs. And maybe I've never really paused to consider what it would be like to find the hidden treasure and to sell everything I own to get it--my computer, my car, my television and my wife's china. These films caused me to pause and to think about such things. And for that I am grateful. While I would not wish to make it sound like there is anything wrong with the biblical accounts, I do think a fresh retelling of the stories can be very beneficial.

I'm grateful for this series of films, a series which I learned about only recently. I am thrilled to know that it is only the first in what is intended to be a set. I'm going to watch these films often and am certain I'll enjoy watching them again with my children. I hope I will other opportunities to use them. And I'll wait impatiently for Volume II.

I teach a 7th-8th grade class at church and was looking for something that would grab their attention. This set is awesome and did just exactly what I was looking for. We are enjoying going through these together. i can't wait for the next set to come out.