John D. Brey
Well-Known Member
Perusing an article on CNN (Russia's political class is taking a dark and vengeful turn) highlights the shock and surprise that frequently accompanies Jewish persons experiencing the natural inclinations and actions of non-Jewish persons when social events take a dark and vengeful turn. Unlike many Jewish persons, non-Jewish persons can often appear to be more susceptible to nature's darker urging when events take a darker and more vengeful turn.
While the Christian community often applauds the Jewish ability not to succumb to the darker urging of human nature when times turn darker, it nevertheless operates from a fundamental, contra-distinctive, theological attitude or bias as regards the nature/nurture debate. This contradictory theological bias goes a long way toward distinguishing between the more leftist political leanings of Jewish persons versus the so-called political Right made up mostly of so-called evangelical Christians.
One thing that makes this distinction between Jews and Christians interesting is the apparent fact that Jewish persons genuinely do possess either a natural, or else a nurtured ability to act in positive ways that seem difficult for non-Jews when times turn dark. The Holocaust is a case in point since no other people can be thought to endure such a dark time in the manner the Jewish people endured and overcame.
The gist of the matter boils down to the quasi-theological question concerning whether the Jew's unique makeup comes through nature or nurture? If it's nature, then it might be difficult to be transferred to non-Jews in a manner that would befit tikkun olam, repairing the world.
Without a doubt Jewish leftist political biases are based largely on the idea that the unique gift of Jewish temperament can be learned and or evangelized through education and affirmation (CNN's agenda in a nutshell). On the other hand, the biases of the so-called Christian Right (say Fox News for instance) come from a belief that nurture can go only so far in repairing the world; that, so to say, a literal rebirth of some sort is required for the non-Jew to acquire, through nature, what can't fully come through nurturing.
John
While the Christian community often applauds the Jewish ability not to succumb to the darker urging of human nature when times turn darker, it nevertheless operates from a fundamental, contra-distinctive, theological attitude or bias as regards the nature/nurture debate. This contradictory theological bias goes a long way toward distinguishing between the more leftist political leanings of Jewish persons versus the so-called political Right made up mostly of so-called evangelical Christians.
One thing that makes this distinction between Jews and Christians interesting is the apparent fact that Jewish persons genuinely do possess either a natural, or else a nurtured ability to act in positive ways that seem difficult for non-Jews when times turn dark. The Holocaust is a case in point since no other people can be thought to endure such a dark time in the manner the Jewish people endured and overcame.
The gist of the matter boils down to the quasi-theological question concerning whether the Jew's unique makeup comes through nature or nurture? If it's nature, then it might be difficult to be transferred to non-Jews in a manner that would befit tikkun olam, repairing the world.
Without a doubt Jewish leftist political biases are based largely on the idea that the unique gift of Jewish temperament can be learned and or evangelized through education and affirmation (CNN's agenda in a nutshell). On the other hand, the biases of the so-called Christian Right (say Fox News for instance) come from a belief that nurture can go only so far in repairing the world; that, so to say, a literal rebirth of some sort is required for the non-Jew to acquire, through nature, what can't fully come through nurturing.
For Paul the church is not another sect, but the community of the new creation. It is ontologically beyond the world of opposites, and so is not a rival religion to Judaism, but a new and inclusive community. . . He [Paul] would have been appalled to see the community of the end of time becoming another sect in time . . ..
Professor Daniel Boyarin, The Subversion of the Jew: Moses's Veil and the Hermeneutics of Supersession.
John
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