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This article employs an unhiding reading methodology to explore the presence of women in Luke’s agrarian parables, specifically focussing on the parable of the sower. By engaging with Van Eck’s research on the realistic reading of the parables in their 1st-century socio-economic context and implementing Du Toit’s unhiding reading, the authors argue that women, although not explicitly mentioned, would have been imagined as present, active and important participants in agricultural labour by the original hearers of these parables. Drawing on historical evidence of women’s involvement in textile production, fieldwork and harvest activities, the article challenges traditional androcentric interpretations and highlights the integral role of women in the parable of the sower, and other agrarian parables.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implicationsAn unhiding reading will be suggested at the end of this article, an alternative reading aiming to offer a more comprehensive understanding of the parables, grounded in the lived realities of a 1st-century Mediterranean audience.

This article examines the language of seed reception within the Parable of the Sower in Mark and Luke. The paper argues that Mark's diction introduces reproductive terms into the seed figure and that Luke edits Mark to include even more distinctively gynaecological and reproductive terminology. The result is a parable in Luke that turns the audience into uterine receptacles of the seed/logos.

This article seeks to investigate in the dystopian novel The Parable of the Sower, by the African-American author Octavia Butler, questions concerning gender observed in the book, that is, considerations about the space that the study of gender finds in the literature. It is noteworthy that this was the first book of the Earthseed duology, having its first publication in 1993, although it began to be translated in Brazil many years later. In this way, through the exposition of selected excerpts in the aforementioned work, studies on gender inequality will also be seen. Therefore, we will discuss, here, on the following subjects: the different visions of the roles to be played by men and women in society and power and dominance relationships between the first and the second, as well as reflections on masculinities, female protagonism and gender violence. For this, the concepts proposed by authors such as Butler (2003), Oliveira (1998), Gomes (2016), among other researchers who deal with gender studies in the literature, will be considered. O presente artigo busca investigar no romance distópico A parábola do semeador, da autora afro-americana Octavia Butler, questões concernentes ao gênero observadas no livro, ou seja, ponderações acerca do espaço que o estudo de gênero encontra na literatura. Vale destacar que esse foi o primeiro livro da duologia Semente da Terra, tendo sua primeira publicação em 1993, embora tenha começado a ser traduzido no Brasil muitos anos depois. Dessa maneira, por meio da exposição de trechos selecionados na obra supracitada, serão abordados, também, estudos acerca da desigualdade de gênero. Portanto, discorreremos, aqui, sobre os seguintes assuntos: as diferentes visões dos papéis a serem desempenhados por homens e mulheres na sociedade e relações de poder e domínio do primeiro para com o segundo, bem como reflexões sobre as masculinidades, protagonismo feminino e violência de gênero. Para isso, serão considerados os conceitos propostos por autores como Butler (2003), Oliveira (1998), Gomes (2016), entre outros pesquisadores que tratam dos estudos de gênero na literatura. El presente artículo busca examinar en la novela distópica La parábola del sembrador, de la autora afroamericana Octavia Butler, cuestiones concernientes  al género observadas en el libro, es decir, consideraciones sobre el espacio que encuentra en la literatura el estudio del género. Vale la pena mencionar que este fue el primer libro de la duología Semente da Terra, haber sido publicado por primera vez en 1993, pero fue traducido a Brasil muchos años después. De esto modo, por medio de la exposición de fragmentos seleccionados en la obra antes citada, se abordarán, además, estudios sobre la desigualdad de género. Por lo tanto, discutiremos aquí sobre los siguientes temas: las diferentes visiones de los roles a ser desempeñados por hombres y mujeres en la sociedad y relaciones de poder y dominio del primero hacia el segundo, así como reflexiones sobre las masculinidades, protagonismo femenino y violencia de género. Para ello, serán considerados los conceptos propuestos por autores como Butler (2003), Oliveira (1998), Gomes (2016), entre otros investigadores que tratan de los estudios de género en la literatura.

This article discusses the novel Parable of the Sower (1993) by the African American futuristic writer Octavia Estelle Butler. Its analysis focuses on two main aspects of the novel: the Earthseed religion, which the main character Olamina creates in response to an eco-apocalypse, and the hyperempathy syndrome, which allows her to share pain and pleasure with living beings, including animals. These aspects are further assessed mainly from ecocritical and ecofeminist perspectives: Olamina’s perception of both living and inanimate nature are examined, as well as the the degree of sustainability of Olamina’s solution to the crisis proposed in her diary.

In the Synoptic Gospels, listeners ask Jesus about the purpose of his parables. These Gospels provide two parallel accounts of this discussion (Mt 13:10–17 // Mk 4:10–12 // Lk 8:9–10 and Mt 13:34–35 // Mk 4:33). The version in Mark 4:10–12 particularly raises problems related to a sharp distinction between the ‘mystery’ that the ‘insiders’ understand, and ‘parables’, which are intended ‘so that’ the ‘outsiders’ would not understand, repent and be forgiven. Mark’s reference to Isaiah 6:9–10 differs from the Masoretic Text (MT) and Septuagint (LXX) versions, but corresponds with the Aramaic Targum, which reads ‘they may be forgiven’ instead of ‘and I would heal them’. It seems that the Markan Jesus deliberately uses parables to prevent ‘those on the outside’ from understanding, repentance and forgiveness. Luke retains the ‘so that’, but does not distinguish between the two groups that sharply, as he refers to ‘others’ and not ‘those on the outside’. He omits Mark’s apparent offensive phrase about the prevention of repentance and forgiveness. Matthew smooths out some of these difficulties by changing the ‘so that’ to ‘because’. According to Matthew, Jesus speaks in parables because the people do not see, hear and understand. The reason for their inability to comprehend, is their rejection of Jesus. This article investigates these parallel passages to decipher the meaning within their textual context. The argument of this article is that these parallel statements should be read within the context of the parable of the sower to grasp their meaning.

Dystopian worlds are filled with inequalities, oppression and authoritarian regimes. They are cautionary tales that warn about potential dangers. And yet, it is also possible to find positive attitudes and insubordinate characters who fight back through the utopian wish, such as the case of Lauren Olamina. This utopianism yearns for better worlds, free of injustices. This paper focuses on Octavia Butler’sParable of the Sower (1993) and the confrontation of two utopianisms, static and kinetic, through religion. Kinetic utopianism, represented by Lauren and Earthseed, advocates for change and adaptability. In contrast, static utopianism, represented by Lauren’s father and the Baptist religion, focuses on traditional values, and shows reticence towards change. This novel does not intend to condemn any belief system, but to explore the impact that these two utopianisms have on a particular society. The article concludes that the kinetic utopianism of Lauren and Earthseed makes possible the change that she wants in the world through adaptability and progress. On the other hand, the refusal of change and adaptation that characterises static utopianism ultimately leads to its owndisappearance.

This article aims to analyze racial issues in the resistance community depicted in Parable of the Sower (1993), by Octavia Butler, named ‘Acorn’. By researching the critical approaches to this novel, I observed that, as much as they admit race as a force that interferes in the relation between offenders and offended, they have not gone further in questioning how the variety and the complexity of the previous backgrounds of these racialized subjects cannot be ignored and homogenized  in the establishment of bonds among the offended as well. As I aim to demonstrate, the world experience carried by each character, determined especially by race and social class, helps meditating on their own asymmetrical positions and showing how their empathy towards one another has to be built and (re-)negotiated all the time.

Images in film, paintings, sketches, and sculpture sometimes drive ideas home in ways that words on the page do not, prompting more visceral reactions and the desire to enact change instead of thinking about subjects on a more abstract level. This essay explores how the visual arts were used in a Fall 2020 course on Afrofuturist literature to supplement conventional readings, class discussions, and writing assignments, helping students to grasp many of the central principles of genre, such as re-visioning reality and undermining the “logics” established by colonial regimes, neo-colonial powers, and systemic racism; the ways that the past permeates the present; the possibilities of Africanist existence in a rich and productive future; how intersections of race, gender, and class influence artists' reconfigurations of artistic forms long dominated by White men. Several creative research projects, produced by students at the end of the semester, are described at length and analyzed to illustrate how they proccessed course concepts, and how Afrofuturist texts resonated in powerful ways during the COVID-19 pandemic.

For over a century, the Danish thinker Søren Kierkegaard (1813-55) has been at the center of a number of important discussions, concerning not only philosophy and theology, but also, more recently, fields such as social thought, psychology, and contemporary aesthetics, especially literary theory. Despite his relatively short life, Kierkegaard was an extraordinarily prolific writer, as attested to by the 26-volume Princeton University Press edition of all of his published writings. But Kierkegaard left behind nearly as muchunpublishedwriting, most of which consists of what are called his \"journals and notebooks.\" Kierkegaard has long been recognized as one of history's great journal keepers, but only rather small portions of his journals and notebooks are what we usually understand by the term \"diaries.\" By far the greater part of Kierkegaard's journals and notebooks consists of reflections on a myriad of subjects--philosophical, religious, political, personal. Studying his journals and notebooks takes us into his workshop, where we can see his entire universe of thought. We can witness the genesis of his published works, to be sure--but we can also see whole galaxies of concepts, new insights, and fragments, large and small, of partially (or almost entirely) completed but unpublished works.Kierkegaard's Journals and Notebooksenables us to see the thinker in dialogue with his times and with himself. Volume 4 of this 11-volume series includes the first five of Kierkegaard's well-known \"NB\" journals, which contain, in addition to a great many reflections on his own life, a wealth of thoughts on theological matters, as well as on Kierkegaard's times, including political developments and the daily press. Kierkegaard wrote his journals in a two-column format, one for his initial entries and the second for the extensive marginal comments that he added later. This edition of the journals reproduces this format, includes several photographs of original manuscript pages, and contains extensive scholarly commentary on the various entries and on the history of the manuscripts being reproduced.

This article interprets the parable traditionally known as the parable of the sower by arguing that it is actually a parable focusing on good soil. It analyzes the parable’s placement next to Gospel narratives in which Jesus redefines his kin network and maintains that the good soil metaphor suggests ideal conditions of growth in which persons surround themselves with consciously chosen communities of support that help them to live out God’s purposes in their lives. Using Michael White’s re-membering conversations, I indicate how pastoral caregivers and psychotherapists can help persons use their previous mentorship relationships as a source of support and motivation. Finally, I argue, using Donald Capps’s psychological reconstructions based on historical Jesus scholarship, that Jesus’ emphasis on his new relationships in the Kingdom of God is best understood in relationship to his struggles with father absence.