In the beginning... (2)

Western Heritage - Lecture 2

Jerusalem

....בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֵת הָאָֽרֶץ

"Introduction and Thesis"
Dr. Kalthoff (KAL- toff) teaches history, sometimes the history of science. In college, I went to church with him and his family. He's a solid confessional Lutheran, a responsible historian... pretty much a brick. So I'm pretty happy they picked him to be the one to teach this portion of the class.

But notice: while he did sneak in some Law and Gospel into the lecture... it wasn't the point of the lecture. It wasn't the thesis. Why not? The thesis (of the whole course, really) addresses a different question than "How can a man be saved?" The question is: how have the Hebrew sacred scriptures informed the West's culture, civilization, and thinking? This is not a question of the kingdom of the right hand, but a question of the kingdom of the left.*  ** We are citizens of both, and it seems self-evident that we ought to seek wisdom according to our vocation as a citizen of the left-hand kingdom. Some of those wise insights into the nature of man, laws, or the world come first from the Hebrews, written in their scriptures. The scriptures are worth studying  not only because they point to Christ, but also because they have a good deal of wisdom. So as you maybe find the time to read through all of these texts which you already know again: look for secular insights, not just theological ones.

The Nature of Man
If I were to ask you whether human beings were all equal in some way, you'd probably say "yes." Why? What's the basis of that? Not every culture has always affirmed this. Caste systems, slavery, eugenics, etc., have all suggested that the value of human life changes from person to person: A sudra was not equal to a brahmin, an african slave was better than an irish one, human beings with some traits were better that those without, etc. Ancient cultures did this sort of thing too, usually in how their ruler was a fundamentally better being than anyone else. Think of how Pharaoh or Caesar were often worshiped as gods, demigods, or close-enough-to-gods. The Hebrew understanding of the nature of a human being was different. Every human being is equal in one respect--created in the image of God--and therefore deserving of a different kind of dignity. While not everyone is equal in ability or inheritance, every human being is equally human, and that deserves some kind of respect.***

*** What degree, and what kind of respect? That's a different question. Slavery is wrong, because it denies a human the dignity due to their being as a human. Being a servant is... sort of like being a slave. But it's not wrong because you're being paid, right? Thieves shouldn't be encouraged in their thievery, yet treating a man convicted of theft like an animal also denies the dignity due to a human being.

This idea is the fundamental basis of "human rights." Dr. Kalthoff made the statement that "democracy wouldn't be possible without this idea." True. There's got to be some basis for why human beings are equal. The strongest argument for human rights comes from human beings as created equal, underneath, and by, a transcendent God (if you haven't read this, now's a great time).

This idea came first from these weirdo Hebrews. Later cultures developed their own understanding of the dignity of a human being ("Athens" has its own argument, but we'll get to that later), but the one from Jerusalem was the first and the best. It has withstood the test of time. To us Americans, this idea is obvious. It's built into our founding documents, and implicit in how we think. Our culture has inherited this idea implicitly from our forefathers in the great conversation, and it's built into the way we're raised to think.

From the Declaration of Independence:

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed . . . 

So if anyone ever asks you what makes the Hebrews or the Old Testament so special out of all the middle-eastern tribes from ancient history, point this out. The concept of human rights started there.****

**** Bible-haters will of course point to a bunch of random verses they googled about slavery and women. You'd have to deal with each one as they come. But as a broad blanket statement, I'm willing to suggest that every one of the OT laws, when understood in the cultural context, ends up showing more respect to human dignity than the contemporaneous laws of other nations.

The Nature of Laws
Notice the the narrative from Samuel. Saul, or David, may the king, but neither of them are the source of all the laws. They are not above the laws. Laws come from God. The laws apply to all human beings equally, even the king. Saul tries to make up his own laws, and is punished for it. David breaks the laws, and he is held responsible for his own actions. Compare to other ancient near-eastern laws, where the word of their king/pharaoh/monarch/ruler became the law. If Pharaoh said he got to stay up late and eat ice cream, he got to stay up late and eat ice cream. It didn't matter that you couldn't, and that that wasn't fair. He was Pharaoh, you were not.

Today, if I were to ask you whether laws should be consistently enforced and apply to everyone, what would you say? Probably "yes, provided that they are fair laws." This sort of concept of justice comes, in part, from the Hebrew contribution to the great conversation. The scriptures spoke first (John 1:1 anyone?). David and Saul might be kings with great power, influence, and honor, but they are equally subject to the same laws of God. Some laws were written for only the people of Israel (no pork), others were written into the fabric of reality and apply to all human beings equally. *****

Imagine trying to convince someone that they shouldn't kill in your town, when they didn't even believe that killing was wrong anywhere. The laws we make for our country, state, town, communities, work best if they are based somehow on universal laws. And if everyone were able to obey universal laws, then there wouldn't be a need to enforce community laws. There will be more on this later, to be sure. The Hebrew contribution is that the universal Laws which apply to man's actions transcend man's design, but come from God. Every society that has laws needs to find some transcendent source for those laws, even if they have to make their pharaoh a god in order to do it.


The Nature of the World
Speaking of universal laws, what about physics? Physics describes the laws that apply to matter and energy. The creation account indicates a creator, obviously, but it also implies a consistency in that which was created, because all of creation is ordered under the creator. The rules of physics exist because they were written that way. Gravity exists. The seas have been given limits.*  The cosmology of the Old Testament had room for a consistency in the laws of nature... in fact, it demanded a consistency in the laws of nature. Other cosmologies in the ancient world did not have room for that. An animist would say that a rock fell because the god inside the rock wanted to fall. But later that rock god might want to roll away, or fly like an eagle. Rock and roll.

Now, there are plenty of people who deny the existence of God, and they have a case for that, and I imagine we'll get to that case sometime around the 18th century. For now, it's enough to point out with Fr. Kalthoff that the cosmological assumptions of the Hebrew scriptures laid the foundations for a rational, scientific inquiry into the laws of nature, because nature was ordered with a consistency available to mankind's intellect.

The End Result
The Hebrews weren't terribly influential in the "global" schema, prior to Christianity. There were plenty of other more influential cultures at the time. But the enduring observations from the Hebrew scriptures have lasted longer as a coherent cosmology than any of their contemporaries. We can see the echoing implications of a created natural order even in our own unconscious assumptions about political equality, about universal laws, and a consistency in nature. Ultimately, the Old Testament is a religious text, and points to Christ as the savior. There are other good things that we've inherited from the scriptures as well.