The Lukan Parable of the Great Supper: A womanist socio-historical reading of slavery and resistance using the amended parable theory of Octavia E. Butler

In this dissertation, I explore the works of the African-American feminist novelist Octavia E. Butler (1947-2006) and show how her novels, Parable of the Sower, Parable of the Talents and Kindred and her understanding of parables, allow the world to see her as one who is a leading voice, thinker and innovator of biblical parable theory. Additionally, this dissertation develops a theory of reading the parables of Jesus based on Butler's works and applies this theory within a Womanist socio-historical context to the Lukan Parable of the Great Supper (Luke 14:15-24) to create a short narrative recontextualized reading of resistance to enslavement. This dissertation advances the scholarship on Octavia E. Butler by bringing the amended parable theory into the discourse on parable theory; and this dissertation advances the body of work on slavery and resistance to slavery in biblical texts. Furthermore, this dissertation can serve as a resource for African American faith communities to unlearn the allegorical interpretation of biblical parables and to reappropriate scripture as a means to resist modem structures of oppression.