Is it False Testimony? Studying Luke 16:1-13 as the Rehabilitation of a Rejected Parable | Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism 18 (2022): 144-167. (original) (raw)
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An Understanding of the Parable of the Shrewd Manager (Luke 16: 1-13)
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The Shrewdness of the Sons of Light: An Examination of the Parable of the Dishonest Manager
In this paper, I will argue that the moral of the parable of the dishonest manager (Luke 16:1-13) is that Christians should exercise the characteristically worldly virtue of shrewdness in the use of temporal resources, though for the sake of eternal ends. In order to defend that thesis, my paper will first explore the questions whether the conduct of the manager in the parable is dishonest, whether Jesus commends the manager’s behavior in vv. 8b-9, and whether the three applications given in vv. 8b-9, 10-12, and 13 are original to the text of the parable. The final section will defend my thesis about the parable’s moral.
The parable of the shrewd manager (Lk 16:1–8): A biography of Jesus and a lesson on mercy
HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies, 2013
Many scholars have regarded the parable of the shrewd manager (Lk 16:1–8) as the most puzzling of all parables as Jesus seems to use the unrighteous actions of a dishonest (worldly) manager as a model for emulation by others. The unease associated with this understanding was managed in part by focusing almost exclusively on the ‘shrewdness’ of the dishonest manager. In this interpretation, it is not his unjust behaviour that is to be imitated but his wise and intelligent actions. This interpretation has led to a divergence of applications regarding the ‘property’ that was entrusted to him. The author, however, argues that, in the context of the historical Jesus, the entrusted property in the parable references first and foremost the Torah entrusted to God’s people and that the manager mirrors the life of Jesus, who was ‘accused’ by the religious leaders of being unjust. Despite being threatened, he continued unabatedly to scatter God’s mercy, epitomised by the reduction of debt and ...
Van Eck, E., 2011, Kilgallen, J.J., 2008, Twenty parables of Jesus in the gospel of Luke, Editrice Pontificio Instituto Biblico, Rome, Italy, (Subsidia Biblica 32), in Biblical Theology Bulletin: Journal of Bible and Culture 41(1), 46-56., 2011