Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

Untamed Narratives

In Short Stories by Jesus, Amy-Jill Levine revisits the parables with an eye toward their first-century context

November 24, 2014 Short Stories by Jesus, the latest book by Vanderbilt professor Amy-Jill Levine, analyzes a misunderstood and nearly forgotten literary form: the parable. Levine, a professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies at Vanderbilt, argues that Jesus’s parables have been domesticated into easy lessons, robbed of their power to surprise, subvert, and indict.

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Lessons from a Dog

Lessons from a Dog

Lessons from a Dog

Patrick Moberg
Plume
64 pages
$13

“They may slobber, but they’re loyal, sensitive, and affectionate. Dogs have a lot to teach us. Illustrator Patrick Moberg has assembled a beautiful, witty, and heartfelt collection of illustrated lessons in this charming guide to becoming a better person.”

–From the Publisher

A Jew’s Best Friend? The Image of the Dog throughout Jewish History

A Jew’s Best Friend? The Image of the Dog throughout Jewish History

A Jew’s Best Friend? The Image of the Dog throughout Jewish History

Phillip Ackerman-Lieberman and Rakefet Zalashik
Sussex Academic Press
240 pages
$34.95

“Brilliantly documents the way Jews have imagined dogs and in so doing imagined what it means to be a human, a Jew, and an Israeli. A substantial contribution to both Jewish studies and animal studies, the text will be valuable both to research scholars and as an engaging resource for teaching undergraduates about the diverse experience of Jews throughout history.”

–Aaron Gross, University of San Diego

In Tune: Charley Patton, Jimmie Rodgers and the Roots of American Music

In Tune: Charley Patton, Jimmie Rodgers and the Roots of American Music

In Tune: Charley Patton, Jimmie Rodgers and the Roots of American Music

Ben Wynne
Louisiana State Univ Pr
270 pages
$38

“A gripping examination of how the work of Patton, Rodgers and others of the era would come to define so much of popular music in the decades to come.”

–Memphis Commercial Appeal

Images of America: Franklin

Images of America: Franklin

Images of America: Franklin

Joe Johnston
Arcadia Publishing
128 pages
$21.99

” Franklin has been a center for agriculture and manufacturing. It is a place where families can enjoy small-town life on the interstate. It is home to a college. It has always been the seat of Williamson County. Franklins small businesses have a habit of sticking around for decades, often passing through generations of the same family. Franklin is as quaint and picturesque as it is exciting and progressive, because it continues to attract the kind of people who have always made it that way.”

–From the Publisher

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