The Cross and the Prodigal - Luke 15 Through the Eyes of Middle Eastern Peasants

Islam has pointed to Jesus' parable of the prodigal son as proof that Jesus was a Muslim prophet. On the surface, the parable does seem to present a message of forgiveness based on behavior rather than on a Savior. But author Kenneth Bailey reveals the message of the cross that unfolds from a Middle Eastern understanding of the parable's details.

In Part One of this book, Kenneth Bailey presents a verse-by-verse commentary on the parable of the prodigal son in the context of the three parables of the lost sheep, lost coin, and the lost son(s), adding cultural insights that the original Middle Eastern audience would have naturally understood. In Part Two he dramatizes the parable by means of a stage play that can be read or acted.