Stories for the Waiting Room
"Stories for the Waiting Room" examines the existential value of Jesus' parables for living in today's complex society. The podcast's host, Dr. Mark A. Proctor, holds a Ph.D. in Religion from Baylor University with an emphasis in New Testament Studies. Dr. Proctor has published a handful of scholarly articles on the parables, and their content has provided meaningful subject matter for his graduate and undergraduate courses. "Stories for the Waiting Room" examines the parables in light of their first-century cultural milieu with an eye toward applying their timeless content and challenges to our own contemporary context.
Stories for the Waiting Room
A Kudzu Haven for Crop Stealing Scavengers: The Mustard Seed (Matt 13:31-32; Mark 4:30-32; Luke 13:18-19; Gos. Thom. 20)
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Dr. Mark A. Proctor
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Season 1
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Episode 10
As one of only three quadruply attested parables in the Gospel Tradition, the Mustard Seed describes the transformational growth of what Jesus calls the smallest of all the seeds. Season one’s final episode begins with a lighthearted quiz before moving on to examine the various differences between the story’s four extant versions. In the process of doing so Mark and Lee discover it is possible to understand the Mustard Seed both as a similitude and a parable proper with distinct meanings. Though reading the story as a parable proper presents readers with difficult existential challenges, Dr. Proctor prefers this approach on the grounds it enhances the story’s aesthetic and yields a more timely meaning for our contemporary situation.