The Golden Rule: The Ethics of Reciprocity in World Religions

by Jacob Neusner (Editor), Bruce D. Chilton (Editor)

Overview

The Golden Rule: treat others as you would like to be treated. This ethical dictum is a part of most of the world's religions and has been considered by numerous religious figures and philosophers over the centuries. This new collection contains specially commissioned essays which take a fresh look at this guiding principle from a comparative perspective. Participants examine the formulation and significance of the Golden Rule in the world's major religions by applying four questions to the tradition they consider: What does it say? What does it mean? How does it work? How does it matter?

Freshly examining the Golden Rule in broad comparative context provides a fascinating account of its uses and meaning, and allows us to assess if, how and why it matters in human cultures and societies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781847062956
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	01/24/2009
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	6.40(w) x 9.30(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Jacob Neusner is the author or editor of over 700 books including The Incarnation of God: The Character of Divinity in Formative Judaism. Bruce Chilton, New Testament and Judaic scholar, is Bernard Iddings Bell Professor of Religion at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY. He is a co-author of The Body of Faith (Trinity), God in the World (Trinity), and Comparing Spiritualities (Trinity).

Table of Contents

Preface 1. Introduction: Parsing Reciprocity: Questions for the Golden Rule, William Scott Green, University of Miami, USA 2. The Golden Rule in Ancient Israelite Scripture, Baruch A. Levine, New York University, USA 3. Alternatives to the Golden Rule: Social Reciprocity and Altruism in Early Archaic Greece, Carolyn Dewald, Bard College, USA 4. The Golden Rule in Graeco-Roman Religion and Philosophy, Robert Berchman, Dowling College, USA 5. The Golden Rule in Classical Judaism, Jacob Neusner, Bard College, USA 6. The Golden Rule in Zoroastrianism, Mahnaz Moazami, Columbia University, USA 7. The Golden Rule and its Application, Bruce D. Chilton, Bard College, USA 8. The Golden Rule as the Law of Nature, from Origen to Martin Luther Olivier du Roy, Paris, France 9. The Golden Rule in Islam, Th. Emil Homerin, University of Rochester, USA 10. The Formulation and Significance of the Golden Rule in Buddhism [I], Kristen Scheible, Bard College, USA 11. The Golden Rule in Buddhism [II], Charles Hallisey, University of Wisconsin, USA 12. A Hindu Golden Rule, in Context, Richard Davis, Bard College, USA 13. The Golden Rule in Confucianism, Mark A. Csikszentmihalyi, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA 14. "Wired for Reciprocity:" Some Concluding Reflections, William Scott Green, University of Miami, USA

Editorial Reviews

Review in Journal of Contemporary Religion, Vol.25, no.2, 2010.

From the Publisher