Storytelling and self‐confrontation: Parables as communication strategies

Abstract

Speakers in many religious traditions have often told parables to arouse listeners to confront their own thoughts, feelings, attitudes, and actions. Because these stories serve both therapeutic and epistemic functions, their study has important implications for the development of rhetorical theory. This essay analyzes parables to explore the rhetorical significance of narration as a form of discourse and as an act of relational communication.