2. If the parables are fairly uniformly allegorical in nature, then they are likely to be either even more entirely authentic than the consensus admits or much more inauthentic. By accepting the possibility that Jesus himself employed allegory, the critic discards a major criterion for dividing the parables into authentic and inauthentic bits and pieces. A growing tendency has been to assume greater inauthenticity,22 but this study will argue for greater authenticity. Jesus’ teaching about the
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