Friday, November 14, 2014
Is The New Testament surprisingly Confucian or what?
Last class, we talked about how the system of laws conveyed by Paul in Romans 13 were similar to the strict hierarchical structure of Plato's republic. I agree with this, and interestingly enough, these laws also reminded me of some major themes in The Analects (I know this is from a while ago, sorry) such as respect and honor. If I didn't know that "respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due"(Romans 13:7) was from the New Testament, I would probably guess that Confucius said it. In the Old Testament, the only people who are worthy of honor seem to be Yaweh and one's parents: "honor your father and mother…"(Exodus 20:12), while The New Testament applies the concept of honor to government. Could this be part of what differentiated Judaism from Christianity? Also, any other thoughts about connections between the New Testament and The Analects?
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I think this is intriguing and that many parallels can be drawn between both the New Testament and The Analects. I noticed that there is a shared contingency on social/familial virtuousness for the smooth running of government, for example, in the New Testament, it says, "For he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law." (Romans 13:8) and in Analects, it states, "Only be dutiful towards your parents and friendly toward your brothers, and you will be contributing to the existence of government." (2. 21). There also exists shared themes of modesty, honesty, and selflessness, as well as self reflection- evident in The Analects with the concept that "one does not worry about the fact that other people do not appreciate one..." (lost the page number) and in the New Testament with Paul stating, "For if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ." (Galatians 1:10).
ReplyDeleteI think the New Testament and the Analects also share a lot of similarities. Both say to honor your parents like you said and promotes the existence of a government. It's funny because this couldn't be said about the Old Testament where God's word was law and all government was based on that for the Israelites. This is certainly one of the major differences between Christianity and Judaism. In Judaism, religion and government seem to be tightly interwoven whereas in Christianity, though Paul says that the ruler is appointed by God, the two seem to be separate and often opposing forces.
ReplyDeleteI think you absolutely hit the nail on the head in regards to the differences between Judaism and Christianity. It is interesting to note how different the Old Testament is from the New; it almost seems like a completely different God. Hence the big differences in the followers of both religions. As for comparisons to the Analects, we see a God that wants balanced people (albeit through means that aren't exactly ideal) in the Pentateuch, and one of Confucius' biggest points was inner balance as achieved through reflection, meditation, and observance of certain people to respect. It's cool to see how all these texts intersect ideologically somehow.
ReplyDelete-Eduardo R.
I agree that there are several important similarities between the New Testament and the Analects. One being the concept of love, where in Christianity people are told to love your neighbor as yourself and God more than anything else. In Confucian teachings, there is the idea of ren, which is the good feeling associated with human experiences. Both ideas involve respecting and showing love for others. Jesus and Confucius teach their people to treat others how they wish to be treated, which we refer to as the golden rule. It is interesting that the two texts share similar ideas, even though they are two very different cultures.
ReplyDeleteI do see the obvious parallel between the New Testament and The Analects in that they both have recurring ideas about respect and honor. In Christianity, respect is a vital part of both religion and people in general. To be a good person, one must respect themselves, their parents, siblings, neighbor, and above all, God. In the Analects, the Masters must be respected and honored by their students. Historically, honor and respect were very strong in both Asia and the Middle East. Other than honor and respect, are there other correlations between these two works? I suppose that in a way, the Master and Yahweh are both ultimately looked up to by all other people/characters in the works.
ReplyDeleteI find it hard to compare the master to God in the new testament. I think it might be more accurate to compare the master to Jesus because they are both teachers being guided by a higher power/purpose. They are also the closest a human can come to perfection in a sense.
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