Human cognitive structures and processes are to a great extent just that—human, thus universal or nearly universal. But at the same time no two human brains are identical. Applying these observations to literature, we would expect storytellers to share many narrative structures and processes, but also to exhibit in some degree individually distinctive patterns in these structures and processes. One important component of producing and experiencing stories is simulation, the imagination of particular, counterfactual or hypothetical situations and trajectories of events, including subjective perspectives and intentions. This essay examines the operation of simulation, focusing in particular on Jesus’s parables. It takes up the parables to further our understanding of human simulative processes. At the same time, it explores the individual features of the stories themselves, considering the ethical and theological issues they address. The analysis suggests that the theology of the parables may be to a surprising extent guided by modes of emplotment—a point with broader implications for our understanding of theology and ethical thought more generally.

中文翻译：

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耶稣的寓言：模拟、故事和叙事方言

人类的认知结构和过程在很大程度上就是这样——人类的，因此是普遍的或几乎是普遍的。但同时，没有两个人的大脑是完全相同的。将这些观察应用于文学，我们希望讲故事的人分享许多叙事结构和过程，但也会在某种程度上展示这些结构和过程中的独特模式。制作和体验故事的一个重要组成部分是模拟、对特定的、反事实的或假设的情况和事件轨迹的想象，包括主观观点和意图。这篇文章考察了模拟的操作，特别关注耶稣的比喻。它利用比喻来进一步了解人类的模拟过程。同时，它探讨了故事本身的个别特征，考虑了它们所解决的伦理和神学问题。分析表明，寓言的神学可能在令人惊讶的程度上受到预谋模式的指导——这一点对我们更广泛地理解神学和伦理思想具有更广泛的意义。