<< A question to the philosophers or 1st century scholars on this list.
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?
thanks >>
I spent many years reading through the extant literature of the ancient Near
East, the intertestamental period and the Greco-Roman world up to c. 200 AD
with the purpose of looking for parallels and background for understanding
the Bible. While I would scarcely claim that I did not miss anything, I can
say that finding this Hebrew and more specifically Christian ethic elsewhere
in the ancient world is a rare event. I did run across the Golden Rule in a
Babylonian tablet written sometime before 700 BC and in the Roman philosopher
Seneca's Epistle 47; but, no ancient non-Hebrew culture's religion or
philosophy made a major or even important issue out of altruistic love,
albeit there was a tradition in many cultures that the rich should help the
needy.
Further the emphasis upon love that exists in the teaching of Jesus and then
in the NT goes beyond even the Jewish background.
So, although one could not technically speak of the ethic you mention as a
Hebrew original per se, I think it is safe to say that with reference to this
ethic and its influence upon Western civilization, Jesus is the sun, Judaism
is the moon and all the other ancient cultures are but faint stars.
Paul S.