A parable is a succinct story, in prose or verse, that illustrates one or more moral, religious, instructive, or normative principles or lessons. It differs from a fable in that fables use animals, plants, inanimate objects, and forces of nature as actors that assume speech and other powers of humankind, while parables generally feature human characters. It is a type of analogy.
Some scholars of the Canonical gospels and the New Testament apply the term "parable" only to the parables of Jesus, though that is not a common restriction of the term. Parables such as "The Prodigal Son" are central to Jesus' teaching method in both the canonical narratives and the apocrypha.
Read more about this topic: Traditional Story
Famous quotes containing the word parable:
“Only in the problem play is there any real drama, because drama is no mere setting up of the camera to nature: it is the presentation in parable of the conflict between Man’s will and his environment: in a word, of problem.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
“Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart.”
—Bible: New Testament, Luke 18:1.
“On every parable you ride to every truth.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)