Parables of the Kingdom [Paperback]

C. H. Dodd (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Charles Scribner's Sons; Revised edition (June 1961)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 002330460X
• ISBN-13: 978-0023304606
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #772,428 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Where Realized Eschatology came from, January 21, 2008

By 

Eric W. Zeller "bob's your uncle" (Dallas, TX) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Parables of the Kingdom (Paperback)

With this book, C. H. Dodd introduced his concept of "realized eschatology" and became one of the most influential contributors to the debate over the nature of the synoptic "Kingdom of God." Dodd believes Jesus taught the Kingdom had arrived through his ministry and it's unveiling of destruction on the powers of evil. Dodd believes there remains future elements to Jesus' teaching, but dismisses the teaching of a physical millennial kingdom on earth as an "eschatology of bliss."

Overall, a seminal contribution to NT studies that remains informative and helpful in many ways.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A VERY INFLUENTIAL INTERPRETATION OF JESUS' TEACHINGS, June 14, 2010

By 

Steven H. Propp (Sacramento, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Parables of the Kingdom (Paperback)

Charles Harold Dodd (1884-1973) was a Protestant theologian; this 1935 book (revised in 1960) is perhaps his most famous and influential. He begins the book by saying, "The parables are perhaps the most characteristic element in the teaching of Jesus Christ as recorded in the Gospels. They have upon them, taken as a whole, the stamp of a highly individual mind ... Certainly there is no part of the Gospel record which has for the reader a clearer ring of authenticity."

The most important part of the book is Dodd's rejection of the "thoroughgoing eschatology" of interpreters such as Schweitzer (e.g., his The Mystery of the Kingdom of God: The Secret of Jesus' Messiahship and Passion) and Weiss (Jesus' Proclamation of the Kingdom of God (Scholars Press Reprints and Translation Series), in favor of his own concept of "realized eschatology"; "that is to say, as the impact upon this world of the 'powers of the world to come' in a series of events, unprecedented and unrepeatable, now in actual process."

So for Dodd, the "Kingdom" is something that is now present, rather than simply something to be awaited in the future. Still, he admits, "Nevertheless, the teaching of Jesus, as recorded in the Gospels, has reference to the future as well as to the present. We must enquire what is the relation of this predictive element in His teaching to the proclamation of the Kingdom of God as present."

He concludes by saying, "We have, it appears, no warrant in the teaching of Jesus for affirming that the long cycles of history will lead inevitably to a millennial 'Kingdom come' on earth. But we have warrant for affirming that God comes to meet us in history, and sets before us the open but narrow door into his Kingdom. To accept His Kingdom and to enter in brings blessedness, because the best conceivable thing is that we should be in obedience to the will of God. Such blessedness may be enjoyed here and now, but it is never exhausted in any experience that falls within the bounds of time and space. Our destiny falls within the eternal order..."

This book remains of continuing interest to those interested in contemporary Christian theology, as well as the life and teachings of Jesus.