The Tale of an Unrighteous Slave (Luke 16:1-8 [13])‪.‬

The consensus guiding the interpretation of the so-called parable of the Dishonest Steward was built around the effort to explain why the (L)lord in v. 8a should have praised the person whose actions were thought to be "dishonest" and who, in the parable itself, is called a "steward of unrighteousness" ([TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]). In order to solve this puzzle, scholars recognized that it was crucial to understand and take into full consideration the sociohistorical assumptions underlying the parable. (1) W. O. E. Oesterley pointed out that the [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] in the parable would "almost invariably be a slave," like his counterpart (vilicus) in a Roman household. (2) However, following the opinion expressed by J. Duncan M. Derrett, (3) the consensus continued to assume that the [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] was an agent of free status. Mary Ann Beavis broke with this consensus and returned to Oesterley's observation. (4) Her insistence on the centrality of Greco-Roman slave ideology for understanding the so-called NT "servant parables" in general is crucial. Her reading of the parable is, however, not satisfactory. She adopts a literary, reader-response perspective and compares the parable with the anecdotes of Aesop's life and fables and with the characters in Plautus's plays. (5) With Dan O.Via and John Dominic Crossan, she concludes that the [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] "is a comic, picaresque character, an attractive rascal." (6) Like Aesop, the [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], by "his audacity," tricks his master and escapes punishment. On the one hand, "[t]he steward, summarily dismissed by his master on false charges, avenges himself by doing exactly what he was fired for: mishandling his master's affairs to the benefit of the debtors." On the other hand, the master "realizes that he is blameworthy for his premature dismissal of the steward or for bad judgment in his selection of the [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]." The slave-steward's "scheme succeeds beyond his expectations," since he regains "his master's regard." Thus, the parable provides comic relief, but it does not "criticize the institution of slavery per se." (7)