Just What was Jesus Saying? Two Interpretations of the Parable of the Shrewd Manager

Abstract

Many Bible passages have been applied to the practice of management. One particular passage — the parable of the shrewd manager (Luke 16: 1-15) — is conspicuous by its absence. Why is this parable, where the central character is a manager, rarely referred to? In this paper, we interpret the parable of the shrewd manager from both a Conventional materialist-individualist moral-point-of-view, and from its Radical counterpoint-of-view. Readers are challenged to consider the implications of the different interpretations of the parable and to think clearly about their own moral-point-of-view of management.