My New Testament professor has a different take on the Parable of the Talents than what I have understood to be the historical interpretation. He views the third servant, who is traditionally thought of as the "villain", as the hero. He says that we have allegorized the text instead of taking it for what it actually means. His arguments are as follows:
1) We view this text through an economic lens that would have been alien to that society.
2) Money was thought of as a limited good in that society, and the people trading would be making money unscrupulously that they did not earn (Matthew 25:24).
3) Traders were thought of as ungodly, according to Bruce Malina.
4) In Jesus's parables, the final person mentioned tends to be the one to be emulated (I'm not sure I buy this argument because in the other parables in Matthew 25, the opposite seems to be the case).
5) Matthew 25:24 does not describe the character of God; in fact, it seems to be the opposite of what the Bible reveals about God's character.
6) Weeping and gnashing of teeth is assumed to be a reference to hell, but it is really the shame of being cast out.
7) Jesus's point is that doing the right, ethical thing may not lead to any tangible rewards here on Earth. My professor sees a reference to Jesus as a suffering servant.
This is interesting, and completely new to me. Does anybody know about this interpretation?
1) We view this text through an economic lens that would have been alien to that society.
2) Money was thought of as a limited good in that society, and the people trading would be making money unscrupulously that they did not earn (Matthew 25:24).
3) Traders were thought of as ungodly, according to Bruce Malina.
4) In Jesus's parables, the final person mentioned tends to be the one to be emulated (I'm not sure I buy this argument because in the other parables in Matthew 25, the opposite seems to be the case).
5) Matthew 25:24 does not describe the character of God; in fact, it seems to be the opposite of what the Bible reveals about God's character.
6) Weeping and gnashing of teeth is assumed to be a reference to hell, but it is really the shame of being cast out.
7) Jesus's point is that doing the right, ethical thing may not lead to any tangible rewards here on Earth. My professor sees a reference to Jesus as a suffering servant.
This is interesting, and completely new to me. Does anybody know about this interpretation?
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