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The Origin and Influence of Biblical Ethical Thought in Christianity
(1. Jewish ethical reflection.) In the first part of the course, we focus on the emergence and the development of ethical thinking in the Bible. Ethical reflection does not begin in ancient Greece. Ethical reflection was practiced not only by the Greeks, but also by the Jews. The biblical authors call for social sensitivity – this is what the covenant of the Lord teaches all believers (Deuteronomy 10:12-22): A judge must not take bribes, but judge fairly. Everyone has the same dignity, no one is a VIP. The socially vulnerable and poor must be supported. Refugees have the right to a dignified life, no one deserves to be a slave. The prophets (Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Jeremiah) call Israel to be faithful to the covenant of the Lord. Jesus of Nazareth also reminds us that the basis of Israel's piety is influenced by the covenant of the Lord, so this piety encourages the practice of justice and mercy, and also leads to trust in God (Mt 23:23). Jesus' piety exhibits critical features similar to that of the Bible prophets. (2. Greek Ethical Reflection) The natural social order and its obligatory support by citizens is a fundamental requirement of ancient Greek philosophical thought, but also of poets and authors of tragedies. Everyone has a defined natural social role. Fate determines each person's role in society. The apostle Paul rejects the assignment of social roles by fate, that is why Paul calls on believers not to conform to social schemes and roles: „Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. (Rom 12,2). (3.) The Bible offers several types of ethical thinking. The authors use narratives, wisdom sentences, prophetic songs, apodictic sentences, parables, and promises for ethical reflection. „Religions invariably provide many of the sources and ‚scales of values‘ by which many persons and communities govern themselves. Religions inevitably help to define the meanings and measures of shame and regret, restraint and respect, responsibility and restitution that a human rights regime presupposes.“ (Shepherd, p. XVIII) Important theological terms: The covenant of the Lord; Word of God (apodictic law, Jewish tradition), Natural law, oracle, fait (Greek tradition); Religious awe/wonder, (Philosophical wonder /awe ); The law of God and human virtues; Spirituality, holy, saint, believer, pacemaker; Justice and mercy; Prophet, a prophetic song, piety. Dignity of diference; Promises, precepts, declarations. (4.) The Fathers of the Church and the Christian theologians of the Middle Ages were more inspired by ancient philosophical reflection, especially by developing an ethics of virtues – Thomas Aquinas. Others were inspired by Neoplatonic philosophy: Pseudo-Dionysius of the Areopagites, Hugo, but also Thomas Aquinas. (5.) In the Middle Ages, Marsilio of Padua, John Wycliff, Jan Hus renewed their interest in ethical reflection on the Bible. In modern times they were followed by Martin Luther, Jan Calvin, Jan Amos Comenius, American Puritans (17th-18th centuries) and others in the 20th and 21st centuries: Božena Komárková, Milan Mrázek, Paul Ricoeur, Petr Pokorný. (6.) In the second part we will deal with the topic the genesis of religious and human rights. Recent research into the genesis of religious and human rights demonstrates that modern human rights have ancient religious roots and therefore, are not a social invention of the European Enlightenment or eighteenth-century secularization. The Washington Declaration (T.G.Masaryk, October 18, 1918), The Laws and Liberties of Massachusetts (1648), Book Concerning the Rights of Rulers Over Their Subjects and the Duties of Subjects Towards Their Rulers (Theodor Beza, 1574), The Law Code of Alfred the Great (ninth century), and other documents refer to religious terminology and biblical sources. Biblical authors built on the Mesopotamian legal culture. The author of the book of Numery (Num 27:1-11; 36:5-9) quotes from the Sumerian Codex Lipit-Isthar (ca. 1870 BCE). Biblical authors create in the spirit of legal rationality, created a casuistic Israelite law with subjective rights, religious reflection on the law, word of God (so called apodictic law), symmetrical theory of justice. This ideology is tied to a theology based on the covenant with the Lord in which all of the participants in that agreement – all of God’s people (Israel) – have the right to a dignified life. (7.) During the fifteenth to the nineteenth centuries, the interpretation of the biblical conception of rights, covenant, subjective right, and apodictic law by Christian thinkers led to an effort to formulate and implement religious and human rights within the context of the individual states of Europe and Nord America. The formation on an international community of nations – the United Nations – and the subsequent creation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 by eighteen-member commission whose participants included representatives of Hinduism, Islam, Confucianism, Christianity, and radical humanism were epochal. This commission has created the universal conception of justice for all nations – once outlined by the biblical prophets and promoted by Calvinists and North American Puritans in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries – to continue. Accordingly, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights emphasized the universalistic dimension of human rights and their obligatory nature for the “whole family of humankind.” (8.) Likewise, the religious rights and duties laid out in the Declaration Toward a Global Ethic, which was adopted in Chicago by the first Parliament of the World’s Religions in 1993, exhibit a universalistic dimension. Poslední úprava: Gallus Petr, doc., Ph.D. (08.09.2025)
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A prerequisite for this course is the need to write a 3-4 page essay on any topic we will discuss during the course. Poslední úprava: Gallus Petr, doc., Ph.D. (08.09.2025)
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Barth, Marcus and Blanke Helmut, The Letter to Philemon, Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2000. Barton John, Bowden Julia, The Original Story: God, Israel and the World, Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2004. Keltner, Dacher, Awe, The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform your Life, Penguin Press, New York, 2023. Keřkovský Pavel, The Genesis of Religious and Human Rights, in (ed.) Pavol Bargar, The Bible, Christianity, and Culture, Karolinum, Prague 2023, p. 320 – 335. King, Martin, Luther, Jr., A Testament of Hope, The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, ed. James Melvin Washington, Harper San Francisco, 1991. Komárková, Božena, Human Rights and the Rise of the Secular Age, EMAN, 2003, Heršpice. Küng, Hans, (ed.) Yes to a Global Etic London: SCM Press, 1996 Küng Hans and Kuschel, Karl-Josef, A global Ethic: The Declaration of the Parliament of the World’s Religions, New York: Continuum, 1993. Michael, Joyce, J. Toward an Existencial Christians Christian Philosophy of human Rights, in (ed.) Frederic F. Shepherd, Christianity and Human Rights, Christians and The Struggle for Global Justice, Lexington Books, 2009, Lanham, Maryland, ISBN 978-0-7391-2472-7;electronic: ISBN 978-0-7391-4009-3; p. 133 – 148. Sacks, Jonathan, Covenant and Conversation, A Weekly Reading of the Jewish Bible, Leviticus: The Book of Holiness. Maggid Books and The Orthodox Union, Jerusalem 2015. Sacks, Jonathan, Not in God’s Name, Confronting Religious Violence, New York: Schocken Books, 2015. Shepherd, Frederic, F. The Political and Theological Evolution of Christianity and Human Rights, (ed.) Frederic F. Shepherd, Christianity and Human Rights, Christians and The Straggle for Global Justice, Lexington Books, 2009, Lanham, Maryland, ISBN 978-0-7391-2472-7; electronic: ISBN 978-0-7391-4009-3; p. IX – XXIII. Westbrook, Raymond and Wells, Bruce. Everyday Law in Biblical Israel: An Introduction, Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 2009 Witte, John, Jr. Law and Protestantism, Cambridge Univ. Press, 2002. Witte, John, Jr., Reformation of Rights, Cambridge Univ. Press, 2007. Poslední úprava: Gallus Petr, doc., Ph.D. (08.09.2025)
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