Ethical Values In The Old Testament
BY JOHN G. TAYLOR III
RELIGION 205 DR. FRANK JOHNSON 18 NOVEMBER 1996 ETHICAL VALUES IN THE OLD
TESTAMENT
How we live our lives is governed by ethics. Ethics is "human moral
conduct according to principles of what is good or right to do." Our ethical
values today descend primarily from a Christian ethic in which "a truly ethical
decision, we are told, must be spontaneous, undirected, free - the individual's
unfettered and uncoerced response to each new decision-demanding situation."
The ethical values of today, especially Christian ethics, borrow and carry
forward the Hebrew ethics of the past. Yet it is hardly fair to explain Old
Testament ethics with only what was borrowed from it.
What sets Judaism apart from other religions of the time was its
monotheistic basis. The ethics of Judaism is historical and traditional as
opposed to philosophical and theoretical. "In Israel, for the first time, an
ethical conception of God is......
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Approximate Word Count: 886
Approximate Pages: 4 (260 words per double-spaced page) |