Theology
Various theological bits as I prep my weekly sermon and read
Theology
Hillel and the Golden Rule:
The statement attributed to Hillel, "What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor; this is the whole Torah; all the rest is commentary," appears in the Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Shabbat 31a. Here's the relevant passage:
> אָמַר הִלְיוּן אַבְטָא רַבּוּת שֶׁמָּה נָבוֹן וּמָה נָבוֹן אֵלֶּה שֶׁנֶּאֱמָר לְךָ בְּשַׁבּ
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Tobit 4:15 and the Golden Rule:
15 And what you hate, do not do to anyone
The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989), Tob 4:14–15.
This is at the heart of the way in which I believe we can today restate the doctrine of final judgment. I find it quite impossible, reading the New Testament on the one hand and the newspaper on the other, to suppose that there will be no ultimate condemnation, no final loss, no human beings to whom, as C. S. Lewis put it, God will eventually say,
... See moreN. T. Wright • Surprised by Hope
ISBE on the Intertexts to the Golden Rule
The general principle of reciprocity embodied in the “golden rule” is not unique to Jesus’ teaching. Among the Greeks, Isocrates stated a similar principle: “You should be such in your dealings with others as you expect me to be in my dealings with you” (Nicocles or The Cyprians 49). Similar maxims are found
... See moreBecause Wants to Hear the Prayers of His People
Genesis Rabbah 45 (28C): Why were the matriarchs (of Israel) barren? R. Levi (ca. 300) said in the name of R. Shela of Kefar Temarta (the village of dates; ca. 280) and R. Helbo (ca. 300) in the name of R. Yohanan († 279), “Because God desired their prayers and their words.”—The same is found in Midr.
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Herod the Great Wives and Children
On Judging
Augustine comments that here “we are taught nothing else, but that in the case of those actions respecting which it is doubtful with what intention they are done, we are to put the better construction on them” (p. 154).
The Golden Rule—the principle of treating others as one would like to be treated—is found in many different faith traditions and philosophies outside of Christianity. This widespread occurrence suggests that it may have originated independently among various cultures or evolved naturally from basic human empathy and ethics. Here are some examples:
1
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