The Parable Project

The Parable Project is a long-term research initiative dedicated to identifying, documenting, and analysing the ring composition structure of every book in the Bible. It is the umbrella under which the Parable Blueprint book series has been produced, and it continues as an ongoing programme of study and publication.

Goals of the Project

The Parable Project has three primary goals:

1. A Comprehensive Structural Atlas

The first goal is to produce a complete structural atlas of the Bible—a book-by-book, passage-by-passage mapping of ring composition as it appears across both testaments. The nine volumes published to date represent substantial progress toward this goal, covering the Gospels, Acts, the Epistles, Revelation, and selected books from the Old Testament (Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Proverbs, Ruth, and Job). Future work will extend the analysis to the remaining books, including the Pentateuch, the Prophets, the Psalms, and the remaining historical literature.

2. Methodological Refinement

The second goal is the ongoing refinement of the analytical method itself. The five-part parable blueprint (Prelude, Background, Critical Point, Wisdom/Truth, Step Further) has proved to be a robust and widely applicable framework, but individual passages and books present unique challenges that require the method to be adapted and tested. The project aims to develop clear criteria for distinguishing genuine ring composition from superficial or coincidental patterns, contributing to the broader scholarly conversation about chiastic analysis.

3. Accessibility

The third goal is to make the results of this research accessible to a wide audience. The parable blueprint is not intended to be an esoteric tool available only to specialists. Every volume in the series is written for a general reader, and this website provides an introduction to the method along with worked examples. The aim is to equip ordinary readers of the Bible with a structural awareness that enriches their understanding of Scripture.

History of the Project

The Parable Project grew out of Anne Sugano’s personal study of the Bible. Over many years of close reading, she began to notice recurring structural patterns that did not fit the conventional chapter-and-verse divisions familiar to most readers. These patterns exhibited a symmetry—a mirroring of beginning and end, of outer and inner sections—that pointed to an intentional compositional design.

Research into the scholarly literature on ring composition confirmed that Anne’s observations were consistent with a well-attested ancient literary technique. Drawing on the work of scholars such as Nils Lund, John Welch, Mary Douglas, and others, she developed the parable blueprint framework and began applying it systematically to the biblical text.

The first volume, The Parable Blueprint, was published to introduce the method and demonstrate it with selected examples. The subsequent volumes followed, each extending the analysis to a new section of the Bible. The project has been a work of sustained independent scholarship, conducted over more than a decade.

Future Directions

Work on the Parable Project continues. Areas of current and planned research include:

• The Pentateuch: The five books of Moses present a particularly rich field for ring composition analysis. Preliminary work suggests that each book exhibits a concentric structure, and that the Pentateuch as a whole may be organized as a large-scale ring.
• The Prophets: The major and minor prophets, with their complex interplay of oracles, narratives, and visions, offer both challenges and opportunities for structural analysis.
• The Psalms: While individual psalms have long been studied for chiastic patterns, the organization of the Psalter as a whole—its five-book division and the arrangement of psalms within each book—remains a promising area of inquiry.
• Comparative Studies: Further investigation of ring composition in non-biblical ancient literature (Sumerian, Akkadian, Egyptian, Greek, Latin) to illuminate the broader literary tradition in which the biblical authors worked.

If you are interested in the Parable Project, we encourage you to explore the blog for the latest research notes, or visit the Contact page to get in touch.