++++++++++
EXILE, COMMANDS & DIVINE COUNSEL
God selects Abraham and
makes an agreement with him. He believes God and so begins a ‘new’ relationship
of God with humans. Abrahams son and grandson continue ‘following the covenant’
for several generations until they become enslaved in Egypt. The culture is
different, the God of Abraham is not the god of the Egyptians. God selects
Moses to establish a written ‘code of ethics’ that would be sufficient to allow
the “children of Israel” to re-establish communities that would preserve the
Abrahamic covenant with God.
=============
Radical Freedom," excerpts from
the writings of Jean-Paul Sartre
Attached Files: File Sartre.pdf (1,008.865 KB)
This edition gives a really nice introduction and, as
you will see, useful highlights throughout.
++++++++++
ETHICS c l a s s n o t e s 1-29-16
DEAD MAN WALKING
LAWLESSNESS
TENTATIVENESS
HYPOCRISY
INSANITY
EXILE, COMMANDS & DIVINE COUNSEL
Discussion Question #1
"In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai." Consider the timing or the context for the giving of God's message, the commandments. Having been delivered from bondage in Egypt, a tribe of people find themselves in the wilderness of the Sinai desert, yet to establish their community. The commandments indeed come at a pivotal time. They provide ethical structure and establish a set of practices that define the spiritual covenant animating the relationship of a people with their divine authority. Are they sufficient basis for the establishment of a society?
In the beginning God
created man in His image so says the book of Genesis. God is perfect, the human
is perfect. Humans were given options.
15And the LORD God took the man, and put him into
the garden of
the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest
freely eat:
17But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,
thou shalt not
eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou
shalt surely die.
Determining what was good
and evil was not a given option for humans at this point. The story of the serpent
shows that humans reasoned from a premise that was contrary to the given
command or law. So was born the idea of sin or going off course. Human history
then became a series of actions based on the reasoned determining of good and
evil without reference to God. Before long Genesis chapter six records the
following:
And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and
That every
imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only
evil continually.
=============
Radical Freedom," excerpts from
the writings of Jean-Paul Sartre
Attached Files: File Sartre.pdf (1,008.865 KB)
This edition gives a really nice introduction and, as
you will see, useful highlights throughout.
++++++++++
ETHICS c l a s s n o t e s 1-29-16
DEAD MAN WALKING
LAWLESSNESS
TENTATIVENESS
HYPOCRISY
INSANITY
MLK
SOCRATES
PAUL
THE PROBLEM WITH
ETHICS WE MUST LOOK
IN THE MIRROR
HYPOCRISY - changing without
SCIENCE - tentative
ANARCHY - lawlessness
DEAD MAN WALKING - plot
http://imdb.to/1KghzGp
As death row inmate Matthew Poncelet (Sean Penn) nears his execution date, he calls upon Sister Helen Prejean (Susan Sarandon) to help him with one last appeal, maintaining that he is innocent of the murders of a young couple.
Poncelet begins to form a bond with Prejean, and she visits both his family and the relatives of the victims, hoping to learn more about the case. As things begin to look bleak for Poncelet, Prejean does all that she can to comfort and console the hardened convict.
Credo Crito
Remember to thine own self be true
Jail
ETHICS
http://bit.ly/1UweimG
==========================
Discussion Questions
2. What resemblances do the injunctions and strictures outlined in these passages bear to our own laws and codes today?
3. Are there fundamental differences in the tone or import between the Old and New Testament? If there are, what might this mean for the ethic imperatives that are articulated in these two moments?