Leandro DUTRA wrote:
> 2008/5/27 Andrew Fildes <afildes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>:
>
> ...
>> and Jesus has just too much baggage. (Someone once told me that he pinched
>> his ideas from Hillel anyway).
>>
>
> >From the Old Testament, Hillel being a derivative. Which is as it should be.
I'm no Christian, but obviously better read in this area than Andrew.
"Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not
come to abolish but to fulfill."
Not long after that, of course, he goes right on to preach against
certain common practices and beliefs that he believed were not
consistent with the Law, as he really was a radical teacher. (Remember,
"radical" refers to the root.)
He did a lot of reframing. He didn't try to throw out the 10
commandments. He did point out vigorously that they are presented in
order of importance, that #1 is really the biggie, #2 pretty darn
important, and the rest laws, but not the LAW.
His reframing is quite interesting. First he says the biggie is to love
God with all your heart, soul, understanding and strength. Then he says
"And the second is like to it, You shall love your neighbor as
yourself." He makes a direct connection here, saying that loving your
self and your neighbor IS loving God. Goes right back to Master Dogon's
formulation. He also is careful to define who is one's neighbor and what
loving him/her means. It's a tough definition, too.
There's a wonderful Swedenborgian (at least that's where I heard it)
take on the commandments. It suggests Moses either didn't quite get it
right, or perhaps simplified things for his troublesome flock. It says
that Commandment One is the only commandment. The rest are a promise of
how a person fulling the first one will find him or herself living,
without effort.
In any case, his apostles and followers referred to him sometimes as
Rabbi, which, given the customs and laws of the times, I think means he
was actually a Rabbi, and deeply steeped in the Pentateuch and the
Prophets. Although sometimes against common practice, his teachings were
rooted in the Jewish scriptures.
It's also clear that the writers of the Gospels were deeply
knowledgeable in both the words of what we call the Old Testament, and
in their meaning and significance in Jewish religious tradition and
thought of the time. His life and work are carefully placed in a context
of what came before.
So no, he didn't "pinch" his ideas; the very concept is alien to the
religious and cultural setting in which he lived. Had he brought forth a
bunch of ideas not rooted in the tradition, he would have had no effect
and probably been run out of town as a gentile.
Moose
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