This volume is a combined edition of Poet and Peasant and Through Peasant Eyes. Kenneth Bailey's intensive studies of the parables in the gospel of Luke. Bailey begins by surveying the development of allegorical, historical eschatology, aesthetic and existential methods of interpretation. Though figures like Julicher, Jeremias, Dodd, Jones and Via have made important advances, Bailey sees the need to go beyond them by combining an examination on the poetic structures of the parables with a better understanding of the Oriental culture that informs the text.