Sallie McFague’s seminal approach to narrative theology was laid out in 1975 in her book, “Speaking in Parables: A Study in Metaphor and Theology“, published by Fortress Press, and has been republished by SCM Press in 2002.
McFague was until very recently Dean of the Divinity School and the Carpenter Professor of Theology at Vanderbilt Divinity School in Nashville, Tennessee. Although she’s retired, she’s become Distinguished Theologian in Residence at Vancouver School of Theology.
In “Speaking in Parables”, McFague lays out an approach for intermediary or parabolic theology: theology which relies on various literary forms – parables, stories, poems, confessions – as a way from religious experience to systematic theology. McFague brings a commitment to bringing the Word to life for ordinary people, grounded in a existential, personal and sensuous reflection on life.
McFague refers often to poetry (Gerard Manley Hopkins), stories (Tolkien) and parables (such as those written by Kavka).
McFague reminds the theologian that metaphor and symbol should be used as food for thought – contemplated, probed, reflected upon, rather than manipulated, translated and reduced. Theologians, she says, need to learn to express insights in autobiography as much as in systematic propositions.
Speaking in Parables has recently been republished by SCM, 2002, but the 1975 version is also available online at Religion Online:
Speaking in Parables: A Study in Metaphor and Theology: Online
McFague’s later books include: The Body of God: An Ecological Theology (1993), and Super, Natural Christians: How we should love nature (1997). Her most recent book is Life Abundant: Rethinking Theology and Economy for a Planet in Peril (2000)