This new work offers an approach to the parables that has never been attempted before. Claus Westermann, a renowned Old Testament scholar, brings his massive learning to bear upon the parables of the New Testament. Westermann first discusses the use of parable, simile, metaphor and allegory, especially in the Psalms, the prophets and wisdom literature. He goes on to show that they are not merely illustrative, but an indispensable element of the wider contexts to which they belong and which are determinative for their exegesis. Westermann then examines the parables of the gospels and finds them to posses the same general characteristic. He concludes that the parables must be interpreted as a central aspect of Jesus' pressing message about the approaching kingdom of God.