The abundance of moral concepts at play in the parable of the Vineyard Workers makes it a favorite among moral philosophers.
Parables as a Guide to Jesus the Philosopher, Part 13: Solidarity
Not only do Jesus’s moral values make sense when applied to socioeconomic issues, but there is reason to believe they were intended to do so as part of a political call to solidarity with the poor.
Parables as a Guide to Jesus the Philosopher, Part 12: Personal or Political?
People from opposing ends of the political spectrum claim Jesus as their own. But is Jesus’s moral philosophy broad in scope, such that it includes a political morality, or narrower, consisting only of private virtues?
Parables as a Guide to Jesus the Philosopher, Part 11: Poverty
A look at how poverty was valued, in connection to virtue and to justice, within Jesus’s philosophy.
Parables as a Guide to Jesus the Philosopher, Part 10: More Mammon
Jesus’s continued critique of the imperial economic system identifies what immoral uses of money look like.
Parables as a Guide to Jesus the Philosopher, Part 9: Mammon
Jesus’s critique of the imperial economic system presents an idea of how money can be used morally.
Entering the Stoic World, Part 2: Metaphysics
The Stoics regarded each person as a microcosmos in whom the macrocosmos of the universal Logos is reflected.
Entering the Stoic World, Part 1: Cynicism 2.0
Some early Stoics argued for disrespecting private property, fornicating in temples, and eating one’s parents when they died.
Parables as a Guide to Jesus the Philosopher, Part 8: More Possessiveness
With the parable of the Rich Fool, Jesus commends the practice of memento mori as a release from anxiety about one’s life.
Parables as a Guide to Jesus the Philosopher, Part 7: Possessiveness
In this part we continue from where we left off with Jesus’s statements on justice, analyzing his approach to anxiety.
Papal Environmentalism’s “Ecological Debt”
A look at some of Pope Francis’s ideas about care for the environment, which have been obscured by sensationalist criticism from conservatives.
Parables as a Guide to Jesus the Philosopher, Part 6: Judgment
The philosopher Don Cupitt highlights that in the parables, “Jesus sharply criticizes and even ridicules ordinary people’s ideas of justice and equity.” Part of this radicalism, the Catholic Church teaches, is that “Jesus identifies with the poor of every kind and makes active love towards them the condition for entering the kingdom.” Another part is the irreverence which he displayed toward the claims over morality made by religious authorities, which has been characterized in the joke on the Good Samaritan parable: “You know why the priest didn’t cross the road to the wounded traveler? He could see that he had already been robbed.”
Parables as a Guide to Jesus the Philosopher, Part 5: Inwardness
The parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector illuminates several of the virtues promoted by Jesus, and can be used as a focal point for understanding the interior aspect of his ethics proposed in the Sermon on the Mount.
Parables as a Guide to Jesus the Philosopher, Part 4: Imprudence?
In contrast to Jesus’s teachings on the virtue of prudence, there are also his parables that feature strong aspects of imprudence. Whereas prudence is an intellectual virtue that involves reasoning out one’s conscience, what Jesus urges in his imagery of imprudence is that we also act from sensitivity to our emotions.
Parables as a Guide to Jesus the Philosopher, Part 3: Shocking Images
According to the Parable of the Dishonest Manager, in the Gospel of Luke, the Kingdom of God is like a man who makes dishonest use of his boss’s money
Parables as a Guide to Jesus the Philosopher, Part 2: Prudence
Part 1 of this series ended with my arguments that because Jesus was not a systematic philosopher, it would be helpful to elaborate his moral teachings in the framework of an ethical system, and that virtue ethics is the system best suited to this purpose, as many Christians have traditionally thought. Taking up this approach, in Parts 2 to 4 Continue Reading …
Parables as a Guide to Jesus the Philosopher, Part 1: Introduction
To say that Jesus was a philosopher is not to say that he was a philosopher and nothing else; he was also a religious preacher and healer. But philosophical argument is implicit in much of his teaching, especially when he is in dialogue. Moreover, his parables, as stimuli to deeper thought, are philosophical devices also.
Virtual Insanity: Social Media with Jacques Lacan
[A post from Peter Hardy, longtime fan and contributor] For a couple of years I have been lurking on PEL’s Facebook group, biding my time for the perfect moment to pounce on this blog. Recently I got to thinking about the philosophical ramifications of social media. Especially as we’ve just been looking at Jacques Lacan, for whom a central concern Continue Reading …