Tammuz

I'm not a Christian and I don't think the Bible is the hallmark of morailty, but there is one passage of it which I really like.

It's the passage in which Jesus and his diciples extract some crop (or something like that) because they're hungry. The Pharisees then condemn them for doing it on the Sabbath, pointing out that the Sabbath is a day of rest. Jesus answers them that the Sabbath is made for the sake of humans, and not humans for the sake of the Sabbath.

I think this is a sensible view, and we would do good to keep it with us, not trying to bend reality after our theories (like often happens in politics, for instance), but rather bend our theory to be in tune with reality.

What I wonder is, since many sayings attributed to Jesus were said by (or attributed to) persons before, what other sources does this passage, this statement, this way of thinking find its equivalents?

PhilosopherJay

Hi Tammuz,

The Jewish Talmud seems to contain a number of sayings similar to the ones quoted in the gospels. It is difficult to say if the gospel writers were copying the Talmud writers, or if the Talmud writers were copying the gospel writers. They could each have been working from the same lost sources.

In reference to your favorite Jesus saying, there's:

Quote:

Rabbi Jonathan ben Joseph said: For it is holy unto you; I.e., it [the Sabbath] is committed to your hands, not you to its hands. - Talmud: Yoma 85b

More can be found at YESHUA AND THE TALMUD

Burton Mack in The Christian Myth traces some of Jesus' sayings to cynic philosophers from the period.


Warmly,
Philosopher Jay