>Are the ethics that Jesus taught such as "love your enemies",
>forgiveness, judgement, being the servent rather than the served, the
>good Samaritian etc. a uniquely Hebrew contribution to Western
>civilization? At least, in the form of a unified set of principles,
>can we consider it a Hebrew original?
With a few qualifications, the answer, in my judgement, is a firm "No."
Nearly everything with an ethical content that Jesus taught is derivative;
those teachings are not original with Jesus. Most of them were likely
commonplace notions of ethical rectitude that were "in the air" in ancient
Israel, drawn from Greek or oriental thought. The Golden Rule, as is well
known, has several antecedents in cultures outside of Hebraic culture, and
are prior to the time of Jesus. When it comes to ethical teaching, Jesus
seems to rely on the same principles as the Pharisees and scribes, but He
pushes those principles to their logical extreme, while the others appear
to modify them.
One of the qualifications would have to do with the virtue of "humility,"
which appears to be unique to the Hebrews. Certainly the Greeks considered
meekness and modesty to be character flaws, not virtues. Neither the
Persians nor the Egyptians, nor other oriental semitic cultures, appear to
cherish humility as a virtue. Only the Hebrews do. So this might be a
uniquely Hebraic contribution to the development of western moral theory.
Most of the folks I know who work the field of biblical ethics do not
consider Jesus' moral teachings to be "a unified set of principles."
Rather, the principles Jesus draws on are variously applied and emphasized.
They appear to comprise more of a moral smorgasbord than an ethical
system. It was the early church that is most responsible for making Jesus
look like a teacher of an original and unified system.
In short, then, I would say that it is not because Jesus provides us with a
assortment of ethical sayings that we worship him as Lord and Savior of
mankind, but because of the cross and resurrection. That's where the work
of Jesus Christ makes an original contribution to western civilization, and
to the whole creation.
Tom Pearson
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Thomas D. Pearson
Department of History & Philosophy
The University of Texas-Pan American
Edinburg, Texas
e-mail: pearson@panam1.panam.edu