lcrew@andromeda.rutgers.edu (Louie Crew) (06/06/91)
In several sermons I have heard in the last couple of years, preachers have cited a scholar who argues that "walking the second mile" and "turning of the other cheek" in their original context had more irony that we can discern in a casual reading. My memory is fuzzy, but I believe that going the second mile was meant to expose the guy for demanding something unfair of you in the first place, rather as St. Paul (or was he still just Saul when he...) said when he told us to be good to our oppressors so that we will heap coals of fire on their head. Hardly the usual picture of loving your enemies! Paul's/Saul's flagrant opportunism has often given me difficulty. Does it trouble any others? And does anyone know the biblical scholar whom the preachers have been quoting to me? I would appreciate some bibliographical data. Louie Crew . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . lcrew@andromeda.rutgers.edu Associate Professor . . . . . . . . . . . . . .lcrew@draco.rutgers.edu Academic Foundations Department . . . . . . . CompuServe No. 73517,147 Rutgers: The State University of New Jersey. . . . . . 201-485-4503 h P. O. Box 30 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201-648-5434 o Newark, NJ 07101 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201-648-5700 FAX Only a dead fish floats with the current.
lm89@ecs.soton.ac.uk (McIlhoney L) (06/07/91)
In <Jun.5.23.51.50.1991.1306@athos.rutgers.edu> lcrew@andromeda.rutgers.edu (Louie Crew) writes: >In several sermons I have heard in the last couple of years, preachers have >cited a scholar who argues that "walking the second mile" and "turning of the >other cheek" in their original context had more irony that we can discern in >a casual reading. My memory is fuzzy, but I believe that going >the second mile was meant to expose the guy for demanding something >unfair of you in the first place, rather as St. Paul (or was he still >just Saul when he...) said when he told us to be good to our oppressors >so that we will heap coals of fire on their head. Hardly the usual >picture of loving your enemies! >Paul's/Saul's flagrant opportunism has often given me difficulty. Does >it trouble any others? Don't worry about it. What Paul meant was that being nice to your enemy when he is being totally gittish to you, is far more effective than being nasty to him. That's what the "heaping burning coals on the head " bit is about. I think. It's true as well ... I was, at one opint, totally foul to someone who was always unfailingly pleasant to me, even though he had no need to be (I was trying to steal his girlfriend too, at the time). The result - in the end, I found myself apologising to him profusely. The coals were weighing too heavily on me! I'm basically I Christian but I'm not yet a very good one. Working on it though..! -- KRAKEN...............................alias.......................L McIlhoney Year 2, Dept. of Electronic Engineering E-mail LM89@UK.AC.SOTON.ECS University of Southampton ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- "If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then we have at least to consider the possibility that we have a small aquatic bird of the family Anatidae on our hands." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
harling@pictel.uucp (Dan Harling) (06/07/91)
In article <Jun.5.23.51.50.1991.1306@athos.rutgers.edu> lcrew@andromeda.rutgers.edu (Louie Crew) writes: >In several sermons I have heard in the last couple of years, preachers have >cited a scholar who argues that "walking the second mile" and "turning of the >other cheek" in their original context had more irony that we can discern in >a casual reading. My memory is fuzzy, but I believe that going >the second mile was meant to expose the guy for demanding something >unfair of you in the first place... It is my understanding that, in the Roman world, a civilian could be ordered to carry a soldier's pack for him, over a distance of no more than one mile. After that, the civilian was no longer under obligation. For a Jew to voluntarily continue to help a representative of his Roman oppressors would be quite an example of "loving one's enemies." > Louie Crew ______________________________________________________________________ Daniel A. Harling PictureTel, Inc. Rockport, MA Peabody, MA Opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of PictureTel, Inc.; they are MINE, ALL MINE! (So there.) ---- === ====