This study of the Parable of the Three Rings is the first full account in Hebrew of the history and the literary and allegorical origins of the parable, as well as of its reception from the early Middle Ages to the Early Modern period. The study provides evidence for the non-Western origins of the parable, which are known mostly through its Western European renderings in Lessing's Nathan the Wise and Boccaccio's Decameron. In some of its versions, the parable contains the idea of religious relativism. This idea was often accommodated in its particular cultural and religious surroundings, but at other times negated and altered to suit the preferences of the other narrators and audiences. Whether the original, relativist, possibly tolerant, message were upheld or not – makes the history of the parable more intriguing to modern readers.
The study of the parable tracks the religious idea -- presented in
various allegorical forms -- back to its Muslim origins. It also reveals the
Eastern origins of the parable's literary framework. The discussion follows the
evolution of the parable and its entrance into Catholic Europe, analyzing it
contextually and with reference to prevalent contemporary religious ideas among
Muslims, Jews, and Christians between the eighth and the sixteenth centuries.
A Hebrew translation of Avishai Margalit's “The Ring: On Religious
Pluralism” provides a logical-philosophical perspective on the idea of religious pluralism.