Independent Scholar and Literary Structure expert, Anne Sugano, has created a new kind of New Testament that sets a new standard. Instead of using chapters, the books are divided by “parables.” Though the majority of biblical texts do not look like or feel like parables at all, Ms. Sugano says all of the texts have been written using an underlying literary structure based on the parable. This does not mean that the texts are allegorical.
She says the Hebrew Scriptures, or Old Testament, have also been written in this way. Reading the scriptures in light of the literary structure makes a huge difference as the intentions of the authors are magnified in plain sight. This New Testament is the spark for Bible publishers in the future to follow suit.
The New Testament, called The New Testament & The Parable Blueprint, is color-coded so readers can make comparisons that the original authors creatively and carefully constructed and which have been overlooked for centuries. This underlying literary structure, the parable blueprint, is found in the gospels, but also in the letters, the Acts of the Apostles and the Book of Revelation. The entire New Testament has been constructed this way.
The literary structure may have been developed by the author of the Song of the Sea found in Exodus chapter 15 or by the writers known by some scholars as the J Source. The structure was highly regarded, and early on, or perhaps later, the parable blueprint may well have even been thought of as “ordained from the hand of God” and thus the text were thought of as scripture.
Both the Old and New Testament writers did not want to show the literary structure outright, perhaps for political reasons, safe keeping, and or other strategical reasons. One thing we can know from the structure, is that the writers invested a lot of time and energy creating a combination of historical, semi-historical and probably even some inventions as they created their parables.
Understanding the literary structure changes the way the Bible is read and understood and will clear up misunderstandings that surround the Bible, including how it was really written and put together.
Ms. Sugano is the author of The Parable Project Book Series, with titles that include How The Bible Was Written. Visit www.parableblueprint.com.
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