Oral storytelling is a rich tradition that has existed for centuries. For people
Oral storytelling is a rich tradition that has existed for centuries. For people who did not know how to read or write, oral storytelling was a way to pass down information from generation to generation. These stories varied in purpose ranging from entertainment to teaching about culture and history. Oral stories about history, genealogy, battles, and political uprisings of a community could last hours or days. Oral traditions provide a moral compass from which social and human interactions gain direction. Fables, folktales, legends, and myths are all part of that oral tradition. Each of these types of oral stories has distinguishing properties to help identify them. For example, a fable is defined as a short story, not founded on fact, used to teach a lesson or moral, often using animals or inanimate objects as the characters.
The importance of the parables can hardly be overestimated. They comprise a substantial part of the recorded preaching of Jesus. The parables are generally regarded by scholars as among the sayings which we can confidently ascribe to the historical Jesus; they are, for the most part, authentic words of Jesus. Moreover, all of the great themes of Jesus’ preaching are struck in the parables. Perhaps no part of the Gospels, then, can better put us into touch with the mind of Jesus Christ than the parables. They still today present us with the challenge with which Jesus encountered his hearers in first-century Palestine. These little stories (together with the Lord’s Prayer and the Beatitudes) are the best known of all Jesus’ words. It is a measure of the value that Christian Churches place upon them..
Answer the prompt below:
Parables and fables have been around for ages, but their purposes have stayed the same. They are used in a didactic sense: storytelling is meant to teach a lesson. Only the medium has changed. While both started out as oral traditions, they have since been added to our literature. Today, most of them are used to help teach still-developing children morals and ethics that society holds valuable. Which would use you to teach morality and ethics, Fables or Parables, and why?
This journal entry must be submitted as a Word Doc (points will be taken off if not), consist of a minimum of 1,500 words, in 1-inch margins, 12-point Times New Roman font, and using at least one outside, cited academic source. It should express your own specific opinion on what we have read. These journal entries will be checked for plagiarism – please review the plagiarism section. The grade for each paper will take into consideration not only the content of the argument but also the precision of the writing, so each piece needs to be carefully proofread before it is submitted.
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