The Parable of the Talents

24 Pages Posted: 2 Jun 2016 Last revised: 7 Mar 2017

See all articles by Stephen M. Bainbridge

Stephen M. Bainbridge

University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) - School of Law

Date Written: August 15, 2016

Abstract

On its surface, Jesus’ Parable of the Talents is a simple story with four key plot elements: (1) A master is leaving on a long trip and entrusts substantial assets to three servants to manage during his absence. (2) Two of the servants invested the assets profitably, earning substantial returns, but a third servant — frightened of his master’s reputation as a hard taskmaster — put the money away for safekeeping and failed even to earn interest on it. (3) The master returns and demands an accounting from the servants. (4) The two servants who invested wisely were rewarded, but the servant who failed to do so is punished.

Neither the master nor any of the servants make any appeal to legal standards, but it seems improbable that there was no background set of rules against which the story plays out. To the legal mind, the Parable thus raises some interesting questions: What was the relationship between the master and the servant? What were the servants’ duties? How do the likely answers to those questions map to modern relations, such as those of principal and agent? Curiously, however, there are almost no detailed analyses of these questions in Anglo-American legal scholarship.

This project seeks to fill that gap.

Keywords: Fiduciary Duty, Agent, Principal, Servant, Master, Parable, Law and Religion, Law and Literature

JEL Classification: K22

Suggested Citation

Bainbridge, Stephen Mark, The Parable of the Talents (August 15, 2016). UCLA School of Law, Law-Econ Research Paper No. 16-10, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2787452

Stephen Mark Bainbridge (Contact Author)

University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) - School of Law ( email )

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