top of page
Love Thy Neighbor: The Expansive Command
Steven Bishop
Vol. 2, No. 2
Fall 2020
Pages: 143-155
$1.99
DOI: 10.33929/sherm.2020.vol2.no2.08
Invited Position Paper
John Hartung asserted in “Love Thy Neighbor: The Evolution of In-Group Morality” that the command to love, and the later use of it by Jesus, does not apply to everyone but only to those within one’s own group. Through a close reading of Leviticus and the Gospel of Matthew, this essay questions Hartung’s hermeneutic and assesses his conclusion as erroneous. By interrogating the world of the text using a literary method, this essay argues for an appreciation of the complexity of the language and the importance of literary context.
bottom of page