This post is a work in progress with basic building blocks waiting for mortar and finishing touches.
This morning's Sunday School lesson on Matthew chapter 13 was educational. Debra's list of words on the board got my attention:
Fable, Myth, Allegory, Parable, Proverb
(Here I add a word she used as somewhat related:) Mystery
Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary [I cannot copy & paste]:
fable (noun) : a fictitious narrative or statement: as
a: a legendary story of supernatural happenings
b: a narration intended to enforce a useful truth; expecially : one in which animals speak and act like human beings
WhiteSmoke Online Dictionary [easiest for me to use]
myth [noun] 1. a traditional story accepted as history; serves to explain the world view of a people
Synonyms: legend, fable, fairytale, allegory, parable, saga, story, fiction, tradition, fancy, fantasy, superstition
allegory [noun] 1. a short moral story (often with animal characters)
2. a visible symbol representing an abstract idea
3. an expressive style that uses fictional characters and events to describe some subject by suggestive resemblances; an extended metaphor
-- WhiteSmoke
parable [noun] 1. a short moral story (often with animal characters)
2. (New Testament) any of the stories told by Jesus to convey his religious message; "the parable of the prodigal son"
Synonyms: fable, allegory, lesson, moral tale, story -- WhiteSmoke
proverb [noun]
1. a condensed but memorable saying embodying some important fact of experience that is taken as true by many people -- WhiteSmoke
lds.org / Scriptures / Study Helps / Bible Dictionary
(Parable and Mystery are the only words on the list that are defined in this Bible Dictionary.)
Parables. (1) Most teachers, especially Oriental teachers, have used some form of parable in their instruction, but none so exclusively as Jesus at one period of his ministry. During part of the Galilean ministry the record states that “without a parable spake he not unto them” (Mark 4:34). From our Lord’s words (Matt. 13:13–15; Mark 4:12; Luke 8:10) we learn the reason for this method. It was to veil the meaning. The parable conveys to the hearer religious truth exactly in proportion to his faith and intelligence; to the dull and uninspired it is a mere story, “seeing they see not,” while to the instructed and spiritual it reveals the mysteries or secrets of the kingdom of heaven. Thus it is that the parable exhibits the condition of all true knowledge. Only he who seeks finds.
(2) The word parable is Greek in origin, and means a setting side by side, a comparison. In parables divine truth is presented by comparison with material things. The Hebrew word, mashal, which parable is used to translate, has a wider significance, and is applied to the balanced metrical form in which teaching is conveyed in the poetical books of the Old Testament. See Matt. 13:35.
(3) ... The application of a parable may vary in every age and circumstance. But if the original meaning is to be grasped, it is important to consider its context and setting. The thought to which it is linked, the connection in which it is placed, the persons to whom it is addressed, all give the clue to the right interpretation.
John has no true parables, but presents two allegories: the good shepherd (10:1–16), and the vine and the branches (15:1–7).
Proverbs, Book of. The Heb. word rendered proverb is mashal, a similitude or parable, but the book contains many maxims and sayings not properly so called, and also connected poems of considerable length.
Mystery. Denotes in the New Testament a spiritual truth that was once hidden but now is revealed, and that, without special revelation, would have remained unknown. It is generally used along with words denoting revelation or publication ... -- Bible Dictionary
