Speaking in Parables (SCM Classics) [Paperback]

"Speaking in Parables" (1975) is Sallie McFague's first book after the publication of her doctoral dissertation, "Literature and the Christian Life" (1966). She has written six other books, up to 2008, all of which dwell on the topics of feminism, metaphorical talk in religion, and ecological concerns. This book deals far more with metaphorical talk than it does with the other subjects, and emphasizes some subjects to which she does not return in later works.

The fact that much theological talk is figurative is no big surprise. Even passages in the Bible itself state that it is speaking figuratively. Aside from Genesis and the 23rd Psalm, the most famous parts of the Bible are Jesus' parables. In the Gospel of John, three times the speaker contrasts speaking plainly versus speaking figuratively. It is used once by Jesus (16:25), once by the disciples (16:29), and once by the author (10:6) of the Gospel. So speaking figuratively is not only used by the authors of the Bible, they are quite aware of what they are doing. One problem which Ms. McFague avoids is to make the contention that all theological writing is metaphorical, but she does not addresses technical matters involved in distinguishing literal from figurative speech.

The most valuable virtue of the book is in identifying three theological genres in which figurative speech plays a part. These are the poem, the parable, and the autobiographical story. All three are present in the Bible (however the only true autobiographical parts may be Paul's references to his life in his seven genuine letters.) We already mentioned the parables. The Old Testament is filled to the brim with poetry. Whole books are devoted to poetic writing. There are many biographies, most especially Abraham, Sarah, Jacob, Joseph, Ruth, David, Jezebel, Esther, Daniel, and Jesus. One of the greatest classics of Christian literature, Augustine's "Confessions", is an autobiography. But it is so easy to forget the poetry and the story and important religious media. To illustrate how powerful allegorical story can be, Ms. McFague cites THE allegorical novel of the 20th century, "The Lord of the Rings." Its main virtue as an illustration is that its allegorical meaning is subtle, unlike the terribly obvious allusions of colleague C. S. Lewis' imagery in the Narnia series. The very best assessment of "The Lord of the Rings" is quoted from a study by R. J. Reilly as he describes the book's evocation of courage, beauty, evil, and loss. The fact that Ms. McFague has her most important points made by someone she cites is characteristic of the whole book. Ms. McFague is a synthesizer of many different ideas, with a few of her own to hold it all together. One spark of originality comes from her citing T. S. Eliot as a Christian poet who avoids the pitfalls of most Christian poetry, by a "metaphorical transformation of traditional Christian language". What puzzles me, and what McFague does not discuss is how someone like Eliot turns one metaphor into another, while avoiding the obvious (such as C. S. Lewis' parallel of the lion, Aslan with Christ.)

The book's virtues are offset by the same weakness found in all her books. The first observation a Christian reader is likely to make about Ms. McFague's books is that there are no scriptural references. This may be explained in part by Ms. McFague's stating that we live "In a post-Christian, secularized culture..." on page 1 of her introduction. I find two things mildly troublesome about this. First, I'm not sure what it means. I'm especially sure that the majority of Sunday church-goers don't know what that means. That being the case, my second point is that I'm simply not sure it's true. I am not sure it's true in 2011, and I'm virtually certain it was not true in 1975, either in the academy or in the local congregation. In 1964, when the "Honest to God" / "Is God Dead" wave broke on popular culture, I was expecting a shift comparable to the Reformation. But nothing of substance happened. Main stream churches are still main stream churches, although they are slowly loosing congregants. The new mega-churches seem to be thriving (mostly) and the right wing evangelical denominations seem to be growing, or at least holding their own. This highlights my primary approach to all of Ms. McFague's books. Where is her audience?

The easiest answer is that her audience is in the seminary. But there is more than one seminary audience. There are the instructors, professors, and (a rare breed) research theologians who do original work in philosophy of religion, methodology, church history, biblical research, languages, hermeneutics, biblical theology, systematic theology, and "contextual theology". Of these specialties, Ms. McFague primarily addresses "Ecofeminist" philosophy of religion, specializing in literary methodology. Ms. McFague's books, especially this one, have a problem with the theological academic, in that she is not a specialist in the study of the ways in which language takes on a figurative meaning, i., e., metaphorical meaning. As early as the second page of her introduction, she is citing original thinkers in Christian and secular rhetorical analysis such as Amos Wilder, Robert Funk, and Dan O. Via, Jr. in order to make her points.

She describes what she is doing as "intermediary theology...in between imaginative literature and academic theology...in touch with concrete experience and with the imagination." This would seem to make her ideal audience to be students in courses on either contextual theologies or feminist philosophy of religion. It would turn her primary weakness, weak originality, into a virtue, by exposing students to a wide variety of writers and sources. Theological reviews of this book cite several technical problems; however none relate to her primary thesis, and most are corrected in her next book, "Metaphorical Theology."