On Wed, 8 Dec 1999, Tom Pearson wrote:
> At 08:47 PM 12/08/1999 +0900, Wayne Dawson wrote:
>
> >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
> _______________________________________________________
> _______________________________________________________
>
> Thomas D. Pearson
> Department of History & Philosophy
> The University of Texas-Pan American
> Edinburg, Texas
> e-mail: pearson@panam1.panam.edu
>