more on this theme
|
more from this text
Single Idea 7353
[filed under theme 25. Social Practice / A. Freedoms / 1. Slavery
]
Full Idea
It is no accident that slavery among Jews disappeared with the rise of the Pharisees, as they insisted that all were equal before God in a court. Masters were no longer responsible for actions of slaves, so a slave had status, and slavery could not work.
Gist of Idea
The Pharisees undermined slavery, by giving slaves responsibility and status in law courts
Source
Paul Johnson (The History of the Jews [1987], Pt II)
Book Ref
Johnson,Paul: 'A History of the Jews' [Phoenix 1993], p.156
A Reaction
As in seventeenth century England, the rise of social freedom comes from religious sources, not social sources. A slave has status in the transcendent world of souls, despite being a nobody in the physical world.
The
16 ideas
from Paul Johnson
|
7337
|
In Mosaic legal theory, crimes are sins and sins are crimes
[Johnson,P]
|
|
7339
|
Because human life is what is sacred, Mosaic law has no death penalty for property violations
[Johnson,P]
|
|
7340
|
Mosaic law was the first to embody the rule of law, and equality before the law
[Johnson,P]
|
|
7338
|
Man's life is sacred, because it is made in God's image
[Johnson,P]
|
|
7336
|
A key moment is the idea of a single moral God, who imposes his morality on humanity
[Johnson,P]
|
|
7341
|
Sampson illustrates the idea that religious heroes often begin as outlaws and semi-criminals
[Johnson,P]
|
|
7342
|
Isaiah moved Israelite religion away from the local, onto a more universal plane
[Johnson,P]
|
|
7348
|
The Jews sharply distinguish human and divine, but the Greeks pull them closer together
[Johnson,P]
|
|
7353
|
The Pharisees undermined slavery, by giving slaves responsibility and status in law courts
[Johnson,P]
|
|
7345
|
In exile the Jews became a nomocracy
[Johnson,P]
|
|
7344
|
Judaism involves circumcision, Sabbath, Passover, Pentecost, Tabernacles, New Year, and Atonement
[Johnson,P]
|
|
7347
|
Zoroastrians believed in one eternal beneficent being, Creator through the holy spirit
[Johnson,P]
|
|
7349
|
Immortality based on judgement of merit was developed by the Egyptians (not the Jews)
[Johnson,P]
|
|
7354
|
The main doctrine of the Pharisees was belief in resurrection and the afterlife
[Johnson,P]
|
|
7356
|
Pious Jews saw heaven as a vast library
[Johnson,P]
|
|
7355
|
The Torah pre-existed creation, and was its blueprint
[Johnson,P]
|