Savrey, V. Ya. Parable in Hermeneutics of a Sacral Writing (Based on the Example of the Study of Evangelic Parables)

Abstract: If we want to have an authentic perception of the sacral Biblical writing, first we need to understand the nature of parable as a special literary genre that has a moral-didactic meaning and tempts a listener or a reader to understand the ‘out-of-limit’ reality that can be reached in the eschatological perspective declared by a prophet. For the majority of both past and contemporary researchers of the Evangelical sacral writing, the parable is still a mystery, enigma that cannot be interpreted in a traditional way. From the point of view of a scientifically based methodological approach, all concepts need the clearest definition. Based on works of Russian and foreign researchers, the author of the present article offers the best definition of ‘parable’. The definition offered by the author reveals the essential nature of this important Biblical term and gives a key to understanding the parable from the point of view of religious ontology, ethics, axiology and religious studies. In this research the author uses a scientific approach to studying the phenomenon of Evangelical parable. The author has also used comparative-linguistic, analytical, historical-cultural, ethic-psychological, hermeneutic and exegetical methods. Analysis of the logic-dialectical and ethic-didactic aspects, main functional, essential features and ethical-axiological and psychological functions of the parable is very important for the world view, philosophical, religious and methodological spheres. A series of articles devoted to the phenomenon of the parable is based on the lectures ‘Parables in world religions: comparative analysis of sources’ given by the author at the department of philosophy of religion and religious studies, philosophical faculty of Lomonosov Moscow State University.

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