The scriptural verses of each parable are included in each chapter. Each chapter begins with a “who,” “where” and “why” section so the reader can better digest the setting and context of all 30 parables discussed. “If you just read the verses, you might not know these insights,” Bytheway said, adding that it isn’t required to travel to the Holy Land to learn them either.īytheway, a regular on the Deseret Book best-seller list, organized the book’s content in a clean, concise and conversational manner.

In an interview with Mormon Times, Bytheway described why the road to Jericho, a prominent residence of priests and Levites, provided the perfect setting for the Savior’s parable of “The Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37).” While touring a museum, the BYU religion instructor observed coins sewn into ancient clothing and better understood the parable of “Lost Coin” (Luke 15:8-10).

If not, you wouldn’t regret it for a minute because you learned so much doing the research.” But the point, when you are done, is who cares - you learned so much in the process you are glad you took the trip,” he said. “When you write something like this, you don’t know if it is going to get published or not. By the end of the year, “ Of Pigs, Pearls and Prodigals: A Fresh Look at the Parables of Jesus,” was on the shelves at Deseret Book.įor Bytheway, producing “Pigs, Pearls and Prodigals” was a pleasurable process of enlightenment. “As we beheld in high definition the backdrop for the life and teachings of the Savior,” Bytheway noted in the book’s introduction, “aha experiences came by the dozen.”īytheway couldn’t wait to return home, study the parables more in depth and record the insights he gained from his trip. But a trip to the Holy Land with his wife, Kim, last January changed his mind. Going into 2010, Bytheway considered writing a scriptural commentary on the Book of Revelation. “Who doesn’t love the parables? You know there’s a solution, but you have to do some work to find it,” said the author, speaker and part-time BYU religion instructor.

For John Bytheway, the New Testament parables are like unto a Sudoku puzzle waiting to be solved.

When times are tough john bytheway