Chapter 4: Philo’s Negotation of Abraham between the Divine Law in Nature and the Law of Moses

2021 ◽  
pp. 94-114
Keyword(s):  
The Law ◽  
Law Of Moses ◽  
Divine Law

scholarly journals Ethical Turn in Legal Analogy

2022 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 159-182
Author(s):  
Felicitas Opwis
Keyword(s):  
Human Existence ◽  
Ethical Content ◽  
The Law ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Lasting Influence ◽  
The Way ◽  
Divine Law

Al-Ghazālī’s articulation that the purposes of the divine Law (maqāṣid al-sharīʿa) are to attain maṣlaḥa for the five necessary elements of human existence was not only novel but had long-lasting influence on the way Muslim jurists understood the procedure of analogy (qiyās). The correctness of the ratio legis was determinable by its consequences in bringing about maṣlaḥa. This shift was possible only by intellectual shifts in understanding the relationship between ethics and law. This paper traces the development in conceptions of ethics and its impact on the procedure of analogy in three 5th/11th century predecessors of al-Ghazālī, namely al-Baṣrī, al-Dabbūsī, and al-Juwaynī. It shows that al-Ghazālī’s definition of the purposes of the Law was developed based on previous conceptual shifts in the ratio legis from being a sign for the ruling to reflecting the ethical content of the divine injunction.

The Flexibility of Torah

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Hayes
Keyword(s):  
Human Beings ◽  
Natural Evolution ◽  
The Law ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Divine Law

This chapter examines sources that shed light on a variety of issues bearing on the question of the flexibility of the divine law of Israel according to the talmudic rabbis. In many of these sources, the Law is seen to be susceptible to change through rational adjustments by humans. The rhetoric surrounding human adjustment of the Law varies. In some passages these adjustments are represented as a kind of natural evolution justified by values and commitments internal to the system. In some passages, however, they are represented as interventions based on values and commitments external to the system, raising important questions about the agency and authority of human beings in a system of divine law. On what grounds do humans modify the Law? How is it that rational modification of the Law and the implied fallibility of the divine lawgiver do not impinge upon the Law's divinity in the eyes of the rabbis?

The Law and the Prophets

2019 ◽  
pp. 274-288
Author(s):  
Stephen L. Cook
Keyword(s):  
Max Weber ◽  
Eighth Century ◽  
Oral Traditions ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Law ◽  
Divine Law

Recent research is overturning the view of modernist scholarship since Wellhausen that written, priestly legislation arose subsequent to pre-exilic prophecy. It now appears that the tradition of revealed law in Israel antedates even eighth-century prophets like Hosea. Not only oral traditions of divine law but also bodies of written priestly law are pre-exilic in origin. These corpuses, including codes within Deuteronomy and H (the texts of the Holiness School), informed prophets such as Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Ideal distinctions, such as those of Max Weber, between priestly lawgivers and charismatic prophets are unhelpful in understanding these priestly prophets and they obstruct progress in investigating the legislative dimensions of Prophecy and the prophetic dimensions of the Torah. The key hermeneutical question of the core theological place of law and prophecy within Scripture is still debated, but a picture is emerging of the pair as conversation partners set in dialogic equilibrium by canonical shaping.

A Response to John P. Meier's 'Did the Historical Jesus Prohibit All Oaths?'

2008 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-32
Author(s):  
Donald Hagner
Keyword(s):  
Historical Jesus ◽  
Intended Meaning ◽  
The Law ◽  
Law Of Moses

AbstractJohn Meier's conclusion that Jesus' teaching in Mt 5:34-37 violates the Law of Moses is incompatible with the evangelist's insistence in 5:17 that Jesus did not come to abolish the Law. Jesus remains faithful to the Law by bringing it to its intended meaning, penetrating to the essence of its teaching. If the letter of the Law is violated, its spirit is upheld: the issue is not the oaths themselves, but the importance of unqualified truthfulness. This too is the meaning of the same material in Jas 5:12. The key to understanding Jesus and the Law is to be found in christological and eschatological realities associated with the person and mission of Jesus.

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