Today's reading is the "turn the other cheek" talk, the last of the Sermon on the Mount section. Nietzsche hated this idea in Christianity and thought it weak and victimizing.
It is a turning of the Old Testament's "eye for an eye." This old law was not a philosophy of retaliation, it was a plea for perspective. The idea was that interaction between people should be proportional; one should respond in kind, not more than the offense required. It seems that, in history, the commands of God were touched with an understanding of man's weaknesses, almost a compromise with man's lesser nature. Here things seem to have changed. Christ says that man should be perfect as God is perfect. This is a much harder demand than "turn the other cheek."
This has been a problem for more people than Nietzsche. Many have translated these passages as demands impossible to achieve and have concluded man is doomed. Luther rejected behavior completely and decided that man was entirely dependent upon God's mercy--a very common theme in Protestantism. In truth, it is a very hard passage. What is more basic in life than life itself and should it not be protected? Does this section of the bible encourage passivity in the slave? Submission to the Nazi?
None of the examples offered by Christ seem outside of a culture; none seem across borders. But this still does not eliminate the possibility that someone will fall victim to viciousness within the culture, savagery that unresisted might result in the death of a totally guiltless person. Should that person not resist?
Christ didn't.
It is a turning of the Old Testament's "eye for an eye." This old law was not a philosophy of retaliation, it was a plea for perspective. The idea was that interaction between people should be proportional; one should respond in kind, not more than the offense required. It seems that, in history, the commands of God were touched with an understanding of man's weaknesses, almost a compromise with man's lesser nature. Here things seem to have changed. Christ says that man should be perfect as God is perfect. This is a much harder demand than "turn the other cheek."
This has been a problem for more people than Nietzsche. Many have translated these passages as demands impossible to achieve and have concluded man is doomed. Luther rejected behavior completely and decided that man was entirely dependent upon God's mercy--a very common theme in Protestantism. In truth, it is a very hard passage. What is more basic in life than life itself and should it not be protected? Does this section of the bible encourage passivity in the slave? Submission to the Nazi?
None of the examples offered by Christ seem outside of a culture; none seem across borders. But this still does not eliminate the possibility that someone will fall victim to viciousness within the culture, savagery that unresisted might result in the death of a totally guiltless person. Should that person not resist?
Christ didn't.
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