Atlanta theologian expresses contempt for Scripture
By Parker T. Williamson, The Layman Online, December 13, 1999
ATLANTA – Jacqueline Grant, a “womanist theologian” at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, told the United States Committee of the World Council of Churches US that she disliked Jesus’ parable of the talents. Invited to give the group’s “Biblical reflection” as part of its Dec. 10 worship service, Grant critiqued the Matthew 25 parable as “reeking with patriarchial, racist and classist assumptions.”
Use it or lose it
Traditional interpretations of the parable, she said, are variations on the maxim, “use it or lose it.” She said the church has generally believed that the parable encourages us to take what we have been given and make the best of it. “We are told that we should be in the business of multiplying our blessings. The two faithful servants generate more and more, and they receive the master’s approval. And when the third servant failed to multiply what he had been given, he was condemned.”
“I really want to say a word on behalf of the third servant,” said Grant. She railed at the notion that different people might be given different talents, and that such decisions are made in a “top down manner.” “Why did the master treat the third servant so unfairly?” asked Grant. “What happens when the church affirms and participates in the sinful practices of such masters?”
The profit motive
Grant then speculated on why the master had been so unfair in distributing talents to the three servants. “Valuations of the servants seem to have been measured in terms of profit for the master,” she said. The master started out giving more to those whom he believed would produce more. This injustice suggests “a prescribed station in life in which the third servant should have been happy with what he received.”
“Clearly a system has been created here that does not represent justice, but a kind of elitism that is defined from the top down. In this situation, the rich is getting richer and the poor is getting poorer, and that seems to be all right in this passage,” said Grant.
Grant also criticized the parable for being concerned only for the wealth of the master and its “lack of concern for the economic health of the entire community.” “This master’s ethics leaves much to be desired,” she said.
Excusing indolence
Turning to Luke’s version of the parable, Grant reminded her audience of the third servant’s complaint that the master was a “hard man, reaping what he did not sow and gathering where he did not scatter seed.” While traditional interpretations view the servant’s accusation as an attempt to excuse his own indolence, Grant took the servant’s words at face value. She said the servant’s complaint showed that he had a prior history with this master in which the master had been abusive and unjust. Considering the servant’s experience, one understands why he would have buried the master’s talent rather than investing it, she said.
The master is a thief
Clearly, said Grant, this master is a thief. “What happens when the larger power is in fact an unjust power? What happens when the church aligns itself with that unjust power? What happens when the church itself is that unjust power?”
Grant said Jesus’ parable of the talents is very dangerous because it is used to justify keeping people poor. Powerful people cite the parable to support superior attitudes, she said. “They say ‘those people are not sufficiently intelligent. Their countries are undeveloped. In making decisions for them we are just doing what is good for them. We can’t give them much power because they can’t handle it. We’ll give their institutions small grants, and we’ll make large grants to our dominant institutions.'”
Grant concluded her attack on Jesus’ parable: “Those in power say that they are giving people only those goods that represent their capacity. But who decides what we are capable of managing? They do! And when we step out of our place as Martin Luther King Jr. did, they join forces and cut us down … The church’s ministry of reconciliation must resist the temptation to demonize that third servant and the experiences of those who live in that category.”