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equality The modern ideal of equality among classes, races, and genders owes its conception, in part, to the message of Jesus and to the Christian tradition. Jesus' message was, among other things, that it is a person's actions that count, not a person's social status. He rebuked the wealthy and the powerful while calling on people to help the poor. In this, he is like other Hebrew prophets before him. He also repeated the traditional Hebrew injunction to love one's neighbor. His innovation, however, was to teach that people besides other Jews could be your "neighbors," in contradiction to the traditional use of the phrase. For him and for those who believed his message, "neighbor" no longer meant "fellow Jew." For example, the parable of the "good Samaritan" was about people being judged by their deeds, not by their ethnicity. The parable has practically lost its meaning to present-day audiences because we don't know any Samaritans other than "good Samaritans." For Jesus' audience, however, Samaritans were a rival ethnic group who worshiped God improperly. As non-Jews, they did not qualify as "neighbors." For an example of how much the Jews disliked the Samaritans, here's what the prophet Hosea had to say: Samaria shall become desolate for she has rebelled against her God. They shall fall by the sword, their babies shall be dashed to pieces, and their pregnant women shall be ripped to shreds. [Hosea 13:16] Yet Jesus challenged his listeners to consider the Samaritan as the true neighbor of the man beaten by robbers. A priest and a Levite, on the other hand, had left the injured man in the road. Since modern readers don't bear any grudges against Samaritans, the parable doesn't mean to us what it meant to Jesus' audience. We'd have to rewrite the parable as "the good Iranian" or something like that. And even if we rewrote it thus, it wouldn't come as much of a surprise to our audience that an Iranian could be a good neighbor because we expect not to discount someone on the basis of their nationality or ethnic group. In fact, the reason the parable's meaning is lost on us is because of the parable itself. The reason we don't think of "neighbor" as "one of my people" is that Jesus (and Christians following his example) successfully challenged that way of thinking. Since Jesus quoted Jewish scriptures, some have concluded that Jesus added nothing to them. (See, for example, Clarence Darrow's "Absurdities of the Bible.") In fact, Jesus reinterpreted scripture while quoting it, as the parable of the good Samaritan shows. Also, Jesus' Golden Rule replaced the less ambitious rule of scripture, which was that one should not do to others what is hateful to oneself. After Jesus, Christians took up the banner of equality across social strata or groups. In the epistles, we see this attitude most clearly in Paul's letter to the Galatians:
“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” [Galatians 3:28]
Paul denies the special status of an ethnic group, saying that such status is a worldly phenomenon and that people are equal in God's eyes:
“But glory, honor, and peace, to every man that works good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile: For there is no respect of persons with God.” [Romans 2:11]
While it's true that the Christian churches in their various manifestations have proved less than universally effective at reigning in the human tendencies toward racism, nationalism, sexism, classism, and so on, it's also true that Jesus' message of human equality has endured.
“The poison of the doctrine 'equal rights for all'—this has been more thoroughly sowed by Christianity than by anything else.” —Friedrich Nietzsche, The Anti-Christ
Nietzsche despised Christianity's message of equality and, in contrast, glorified Hinduism's caste system. The US Declaration of Independence declared "All men are created equal." That statement owes its credibility in large part to Jesus' message of equality. Thomas Jefferson was so conscious his debt to Jesus that he collected Jesus' moral teachings into a book, The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth. In an ironic reversal, the prophet who opposed segregating people into in-groups and out-groups is now used by his followers as the key determiner of their in-group. People with Jesus are saved and those without him are lost, as tradition has it. While the phrase “children of god” implies universality, the phrase “brothers in Christ” defines a specific in-group.
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contents table of contents you're already looking at it introduction for the inquisitive reader biographical overview who he was and wasn't
afterlife not Jesus' concern animal sacrifice bloodless religion apocalypse did Jesus preach hellfire? baptism sin wash for Jesus and others beatitudes Jesus' words and others' words beloved disciple witness for the un-gospel bible scripture old and new bishop the unjesus body focus on the physical Buddha Jesus' close kin charity key Christian virtue and legacy of Jesus The Da Vinci Code secret (and false) messages divorce women's status dreams convenient literary device Elijah Jewish prophet with his own second coming equality ancient source of modern egalitarianism exorcist Jesus and demons failure reinterpreting Jesus as a failure faith from trust to blind belief father Jesus on titles of honor Francis of Assisi the most Christlike Christian Gandhi the 20th century's most Christly holy man Galilee Jesus' inauspicious homeland gentiles Jesus' inadvertent audience god how Jesus became god golden rule key to Jesus' success gospels competing accounts heaven from sky to spiritual home hell revenge fantasy humanism Jesus' legacy inerrant Christian treatment of scripture Thomas Jefferson ethics of Jesus Jewish guilt Christian libel John's gospel the un-gospel John the baptist, see John the washer John the washer Jesus' apocalyptic mentor Judaism libeled religion of Jesus kingdom of god what Jesus promised Lao Tzu poet of the cosmic way logos jesus as the word of god C. S. Lewis famous, flawed trilemma little drummer boy Luke beats Matthew logos Jesus as the divine word LORD Yahweh transitioning to the one god of all Luke's gospel the all-around best gospel Mark's gospel the gospel that lost its point Mary of Magdala women, visions, and sex massacre of the innocents bloodshed starts early Matthew's gospel best gospel for church reading Mormon, see Joseph Smith Moses Jewish lawgiver Muhammad a prophet who got it right mystery Orpheus and transubstantiation oppression origin of Jesus' compassion The Passion of the Christ Luke as buzzkill Paul revealer of the revealer private and public public Jesus and secret Christ relativism the secret power of the golden rule sacrifice Jesus' death and Christian sacrament Albert Schweitzer Jesus as a failure sheol dark pit of death show Jesus' deeds as put-ons slavery abolished by Jesus' efforts Joseph Smith flesh-and-blood Jesus Socrates secular Jesus son of god on close terms with the man upstairs soul, see body synoptics three gospels that agree temple center of Jewish religion trinity unifying and divisive doctrinre vision, see dreams Yahweh, see LORD Zoroaster Persian dualistic holy man
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