Reviving the Golden Rule: How the Ancient Ethic of Neighbor Love Can Heal the World

by Andrew DeCort

Overview

The Revolutionary Power of Loving Your Neighbor

Discover the transformational power of neighbor-love in theologian and ethicist Andrew DeCort’s Reviving the Golden Rule. This thought-provoking work illuminates the revolutionary ethics of loving your neighbor, weaving together history, theology, and practical guidance. Through this in-depth historical survey of the ethics of neighbor-love, DeCort invites readers to reclaim loving their neighbor as a powerful force for justice, healing, and human flourishing.

The biblical charges to “love your neighbor as yourself” and to "do to others as you would have them do to you" are at the heart of Abrahamic faith. DeCort argues that they are also at the heart of some of the most groundbreaking developments in human rights and the common good. Jesus taught neighbor-love and promised, “Do this and you will flourish.”

But Christians today are at high risk of ignoring or overthrowing the most daring teaching of Jesus’ movement. Having heard it repeatedly and having benefited immensely from its cultural effects, we have become dulled to neighbor-love’s revolutionary power.

In response, Reviving the Golden Rule:

• Explores the ethics of neighbor-love from the ancient world to modern times.
• Examines how neighbor-love challenges the oppressive power of "othering" and expands human connection.
• Highlights inspiring figures like Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Mother Teresa, and Oscar Romero, who practiced neighbor-love among marginalized communities.
• Addresses instances where Christians have failed to uphold neighbor-love.
• Provides practical guidance on how to love and embrace "othered" neighbors today.

In one of the only historical and constructive works on the ethics of neighbor-love, DeCort invites us to reclaim this ancient movement. Get your copy today and learn to embody this revolutionary practice amidst crises for the healing of the world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781514012765
Publisher:	InterVarsity Press
Publication date:	10/02/2025
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.69(d)

About the Author

Andrew DeCort (PhD, University of Chicago) founded the Institute for Faith and Flourishing and cofounded the Neighbor-Love Movement in Ethiopia, which have reached over twenty million people with the invitation to nonviolent spirituality. He has taught ethics, public theology, peace and conflict studies, and Ethiopian studies at Wheaton College, the Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology, and the University of Bonn. He is the author of Blessed Are the Others, Flourishing on the Edge of Faith: Seven Practices for a New We, and Bonhoeffer’s New Beginning: Ethics after Devastation.

Table of Contents

Gratitude

1. Neighbor Love: The Crisis of Othering and the Hope of Humanity
2. The Origins of Neighbor Love: The Hebrew Bible
3. The Universalization of Neighbor Love and Abolition of Othering: Jesus of Nazareth
4. The Improbable Revolution of Neighbor Love: The New Testament
5. The Red Thread: A Brief History of Jesus' Neighbor-Love Movement
6. Twentieth-Century Exemplars of Neighbor Love: Bonhoeffer, Weil, King, Romero, and Teresa
7. Neighbor Love Now: The Abolition of Othering and a New Beginning for Humanity

An Invitation to the Neighbor-Love Movement
Study Guide: Questions for Reflection and Discussion
Recommended Readings in Neighbor Love
Neighbor Love: An Extensive Bibliography for an Ancient-yet-Emerging Field of Study and Practice
Othering: A Brief Bibliography
General Bibliography
General Index
Scripture Index

Editorial Reviews

"In this passionate and expansive book, Andrew DeCort tells the story of Christianity with neighbor love at its core. Rooted in his experiences in Ethiopia, DeCort pushes past the clichés that swirl around love. From the Hebrew Bible to Martin Luther King Jr., from the early Jesus followers to Simone Weil, DeCort's inspiring stories will motivate readers to put neighbor love into practice in their own contexts."

Vincent Lloyd

"This book is a rich personal, historical, and theological exploration of the most important moral questions of our earthly existence—who are my neighbors, and how should I care for them?"

Eboo Patel

"This is one of those exceedingly rare 'big books' in Christian ethics that traces a crucial concept historically while advancing the normative discussion for today. Andrew DeCort does that with the crucial pair of othering on the problem side and neighbor love on the solution side. What makes the book even more rare is that it really marks reflection on the radical practice of neighbor love as a movement, innovated by the author in the hard crucible of Ethiopia. So impressive. I highly recommend this book."

David P. Gushee

"Do you want to make the world a better place? Start here. Reviving the Golden Rule addresses the most urgent ethical question of our time and perhaps of all time—the question of how we can expand the circle of the 'us' to encompass the 'other.' Although written from an unapologetically Christian perspective, Andrew DeCort's newest book delivers a powerful humanist message that should be heard and acted upon by believers and unbelievers alike."

David Livingstone Smith

"The perfect fusion of simple and profound. Neighbor love is the lifeline for our sin-sick souls suffocating in the quicksand of fear, scarcity, and indifference. Andrew DeCort does a masterful job diagnosing the problem and the cure."

Shane Claiborne

"In Reviving the Golden Rule, Andrew DeCort calls Christians to rediscover the ethical demands of a faith that commands us to love everyone—neighbors, strangers, and enemies—as ourselves. With urgency and clarity, he challenges us to resist the forces that divide and dehumanize and to embody the bold, boundary-breaking love of Jesus. This book is both a moral summons and a hopeful guide for anyone who longs to live out gospel implications in a fractured world."

Noah Toly

"This is one of those exceedingly rare 'big books' in Christian ethics that traces a crucial concept historically while advancing the normative discussion for today. Andrew DeCort does that with the crucial pair of othering on the problem side and neighbor-love on the solution side. What makes the book even more rare is that it really marks reflection on the radical practice of neighbor-love as a movement, innovated by the author in the hard crucible of Ethiopia. So impressive. I highly recommend this book."

David P Gushee

Do you want to make the world a better place? Start here. Reviving the Golden Rule…delivers a powerful humanist message that should be heard and acted upon by believers and unbelievers alike.”

author of On Inhumanity David Livingstone Smith