The Cross \u0026 the Prodigal: Luke 15 Through the Eyes of Middle Eastern Peasants by Kenneth E. Bailey

The Cross \u0026 the Prodigal: Luke 15 Through the Eyes of Middle Eastern Peasants Reviews

• 
  Anne Hamilton

  'Christians have perverted the message of Christ,' says the Muslim to his Christian friend. 'The story of the prodigal son proves that the cross is unnecessary to forgiveness. The boy comes home. His father welcomes him. There is no cross and no incarnation. Islam with no cross or savior preserves the true message of Christ.'
  
  So begins this profound book in which Ken Bailey seeks to examine this centuries-old Muslim criticism of Christianity. Having lived and worked in the Middle East for decades, he asked everyone in every strata of society he could find what the story of the prodigal son meant to them. He was particularly interested in the responses of peasants in villages who were able to fill in the necessary unspoken cultural detail. What was expected from each person - from the younger son, the older son and the father - in each circumstance is quite different in the eyes of Eastern people to those of the West.
  
  Bailey draws his insights together to demonstrate his belief that the cross is indeed an intrinsic part of the story.
  
  He finishes up with a dramatic play to bring out the hidden depths of the parable and explore the emotive reactions that remain invisible to western readers of the fifteenth chapter of Luke's gospel.
• 
  Salvador Vivas

  Es imposible no conmocionarse con un libro que sabe explicar la parábola de Lucas 15. Siempre, de una u otra forma, nos veremos reflejados en los hijos, en su lejanía del amor del Padre, y en ser encontrados por este.
  
  En ese sentido, Kenneth Bailey hace un estupendo trabajo. Él no sólo hace una buena narración del texto, sino que también nos ofrece respuestas a nuestras dudas del pasaje. Pero más allá, nos ayuda a observar la magnitud del juego de honor y deshonra que para muchos de nosotros, por vivir en sociedad que se basan en el poder y la debilidad, o incluso en la culpa o inocencia, pasamos desapercibidos.
  
  En resumen, es un trabajo fenomenal en cuanto a su análisis gramatical, su estudio del contexto cultural, y de la teología bíblica encontrada en esta hermosa parábola.
• 
  Dan Curnutt

  WOW is all I can say. Dr. Bailey does it again. He gives us a culturally sensitive and correct exegesis of the three parables in Luke 15.
  
  The stories will come alive as you dig into this short (145 pages) book. Do Not Skip the Introduction to the second edition or the Preface. They have wonderul tidbits that will make you stop and think.
  
  Dr. Bailey has lived and taught in the Middle East for over 40 years. He is fluent in Middle Eastern Languages and has found, poured over, memorized and thouroughly studied Arabic and Coptic commentaries that are not available to the rest of us in the West because they have not been translated out of their original languages.
  
  If you love the Bible and want to better understand the culture of the times that Jesus walked this earth then you MUST read this book and others by Dr. Bailey.
  
  I can't recommend this highly enough.
• 
  Mia

  The insight this book has given to both me and the others in my family has been immense.
  It’s undeniably important to understand something, biblical or not, in the context with which it is surrounded - which makes me wonder how we so often read the surface of something and just accept it? This was helpful to me not only in Luke, but also in context to reading the Bible as a whole; everything has to be looked at as it were intended, not how I’d choose to interpret it.
  This book has been so insightful and totally changed how I view Luke 15; I’ve bought a few more of his books and readily look forward to seeing what they have to offer!
• 
  Jonathan

  Bailey's biblical, linguistic, and anthropological wisdom provide modern, Western readers with irreplaceable illumination of Jesus' three "lost and found parables." You'll never see these stories, or the radical love of God, in the same way again.
• 
  Rachel Meyers

  This is a life changing book. I coupled it with Kristi Mclelland’s Bible study on the running father and feel strongly that both together were so beautifully simple and foreign to me and I wish I could go back in time and learn the truth when I was a child. It is like that quiet voice you only partially heard even though you thought you understood completely. This is one I will need to read again and be reminded of.
• 
  Norman Falk

  La riqueza que es conocer el contexto de un texto...
• 
  Terra

  I am a huge fan of Kenneth Bailey--his time spent living in the middle east and seeking to understand the nuances of its various cultures and the implications of those cultures on the gospels and epistles is invaluable. This short work on the story of the prodigal was insightful and helpful but not among his best work--some of his points lacked adequate exploration. But on the whole, his insight that the story is actually about a compassionate father and his TWO lost sons is true and beautiful.
• 
  Loredelcarmen

  Un libro corto, pero con una gran enseñanza, no solo desglosa la parábola del hijo pródigo, sino también la del buen pastor y la de la mujer que pierde su moneda, yo no sabía que las tres parábolas van juntas, como una trilogía, y la del buen pastor también es la continuación del salmo 23, la de la mujer con las monedas se ve que para Jesús la mujer lleva un papel principal, y e el hijo pródigo destaca el amor de Dios para con nosotros.
• 
  Roberto

  La parábola exhibe dos tipos de pecado. Uno es el pecado de quien se salta las leyes y el otro es el pecado de quien las guarda. Cada uno se centra en una relación rota. Uno rompe esa relación porque no logra cumplir con las expectativas de la familia y la sociedad. El segundo rompe esa relación por cumplir con esas mismas expectativas.
  EL AMOR DEL PADRE ES TREMENDO!!!
• 
  Gina M Poirier

  I loved how this book was easy to read yet full of depth. It provided so much enlightening context to Jesus’ parables in Luke 15. The second half of the book was a play that brought to life the story of the prodigal son, which was so creative and unique. I highly recommend to anyone who wants to take their Bible study deeper.
• 
  Jennifer Bowers

  One of the best explanations of the parable of the prodigal sons I've ever read, with great insights from the author's many years of experience living in the Middle East.
  
  2020 Challenge: A book about the Bible
• 
  Lena Lu

  This book opened my eyes to the story of the prodigal son in such a different way. I am thankful to have come across this book and across this author. I HIGHLY recommend reading the play in the second part of the book and not to skip it!!
• 
  Ken

  Short but captivating historical/cultural perspective on the story of the prodigal.
• 
  Jenai Auman

  Great short commentary on the Luke 15, the prodigal son as written by Luke. A few thoughts may have been overemphasized with license, but I’m interested in reading further.
• 
  Abbie

  Solid 4.5 👍
• 
  Sunni LR

  The cultural background made a story I have heard many times before much richer. The presentation of the material is artful - an engaging and impactful combination.
• 
  Ariel

  I love Kenneth Bailey books with their unique but necessary perspective of the Middle Eastern culture on Scriptural interpretation. This one is short but brilliant.
• 
  Brook

  Middle eastern perspective & lettering as art help western readers grasp the parable of the prodigal at a deeper insight level.
• 
  Aaron Bruton

  Deep and easy to read. This will change the way you view the story of the Prodigal Son.
• 
  Lexie

  Excellent theology and easily digestible.
• 
  Jenny Moffitt

  Life changing look at Luke 15. Highly recommend!!
• 
  Adam Bloch

  Nice, unique commentary of the Prodigal Son. I thought the play at the end (more than a third of the book, though) would be flyover/skim worthy, but I really enjoyed it.
• 
  Jeff McCormack

  I really enjoy Bailey's style, and this book was a bit less technical than some of his others, making it even more easy to read and grasp. He takes a relatively short story and expands on the underlying concepts and cultural understandings that the original hearers would have grasped when they heard it. He adds so much background story to it, that it really comes to life more.
  
  My only complaint, and it is a relatively slight one in light of the whole story, is that Bailey kind of misses the mark in identifying the parties of the story. In identifying the prodigal son as just mankind, he misses the covenant significance behind it. The father figure is indeed representative of Yahweh as he points out, but the older son would be representative of the two southern tribes that were technically still within the covenant with the Father, with the prodigal son representing the ten Northern tribes who were not. Like the prodigal son, those tribes were cast out, dispersed throughout the nations, but they were promised (as seen in Isaiah, Hosea and Ezekiel 37, and elsewhere) that one day they were to be brought back into the fold. As we see this beginning to happen under the ministry of Paul, we see the building frustration of the Pharisees who were dealing unkindly to the idea, just as the older son in the story did.
  
  But as I said, while this is a technical issue of sorts, it doesn't really alter the thrust of this book's underlying story, that of the Father's love even for the people who despised him beforehand, but were now returning to the fold. I just think that bringing in that identification would add a slightly deeper meaning to the story, as well as bringing in the connection and tying together the promises from the OT that were about to take place.
  
  Even without that though, he brings out the extent of the Father's love, which bends over backwards in the face of cultural mandates, and acts in a way that is so contrary to the actions required of someone in the father's position, that it should bring the readers to a greater appreciation of what Yahweh has done for His people.
• 
  Jim B

  The word "cross" in the title of this brief paperback caught my eye at a used book store. Kenneth E. Bailey has done a service to the Christian church and to Western interpreters of the Bible by devoting his efforts to providing insights of Middle Eastern culture to the New Testament (click on his name to read his bio).
  
  He brings something special to the task: He is not merely a professional, but a Christian with an understanding of the gospel that is rare in scholarly writing. He doesn't write in a "Bible college" or popular Christian bookstore style. His writing has an underlying assumption that the suffering of the Son of God who came into the world to save sinners is the purest message of Jesus Christ.
  
  Bailey has written a much longer text on Jesus which I review elsewhere Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes. The occasion for his analysis of the parable of the two sons and the loving father has to do with the centrality of the cross to the parable. This a point that would surprise most Biblical interpreters from the Western church. Having spent his ministry in the Middle East, Bailey was aware that Islam says that Allah is forgiving and there is no need for Jesus to die on the cross. The Parable of the Prodigal Son has been used in Muslim circles as an example of free forgiveness offered without a sacrificial death.
  
  Bailey reveals how the father in the parable appears to someone who grew up in the Middle East. A father should not run out to meet his prodigal son. He should throw his older son out of the house for disrespect. The father in this parable sacrifices greatly out of love for both sons. This sacrifice is the cross. Bailey's discussion of this is worth reading and absorbing.
  
  The 1973 book which I originally read was revised in 2005 and won awards. It deserves this recognition!
• 
  Seth Heasley

  When I read The Language of Science and Faith, the authors made the point that when we consider the cultural and historical context of a Biblical passage, we don't necessarily overturn the plain meaning (plain from our perspective), but we definitely enrich that meaning. As an example, they used the Parable of the Prodigal Son and referenced Kenneth E. Bailey's beautiful The Cross and the Prodigal: Luke 15 Through the Eyes of Middle Eastern Peasants.
  
  When I say beautiful, I certainly mean that the book has some lovely commentary on Christ's teachings, but it also contains the script for a wonderful play based on the parable, and absolutely stunning Arabic calligraphy heading each chapter. For those who don't know, Islam discourages sacred images of any kind, including sacred figurative art. But using the pen to instead make beautiful "pictures" with words was considered kosher (or should I say "halal"?).
  
  This book pulls back the veil on the deeper meanings of the story, plain to the original hearers, which have been largely lost to Western ears.
  
  

  Jesus spoke to a Middle Eastern peasant people. Even the educated would have had their roots in that peasantry. What lies between the lines, what is felt and not spoken, is of deepest significance. Indeed, it almost cannot be expressed because it is not consciously apprehended. What "everybody knows" is never explained.

  
  
  Full review on
  my blog.