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Human beings are created in God’s image, after God’s likeness

God’s creation of man represented an act of mercy and love - in creating man, God expressed his special love for him

Special relationship with God:

the exclusive relationship that existed between Yahweh and Israel as the chosen people, and it is strengthened in the form of a covenant (berit) that contains special commandments or laws binding them

Yahweh is recognised as God

rabbinical writing: obedience to the law

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1. a self that is the product of our own actions

2. a Self (called the atman) that is not bound up in ego, action, rebirth, and personal individuality

moksha

Recognizing this transcendent Self as one’s true identity and abandoning the lower or even false self that is the ego and that undergoes transmigration brings one to the state of liberation or freedom

Self (called the atman): the agent of good or bad acts

Ritual action, or karma: creates a proper and independent human being out of the biological self.

Samkaras: rituals of ontological healing, construction, and perfection

Formal Ritual: Upanayana (ceremonies) : "second birth", a birth "out of veda"

The type of rebirth we receive is determined by our karma, which is created by our actions, but also by our desires

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a branch of axiology or philosophy

“ethics” - the Greek ethos and ethikos - also called ethika

the philosophical study which attempts to systematically and rationally investigate, and define what is morally good and bad, right and wrong in human behavior

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“morality” is derived from the Latin mores

the actual patterns of conduct and the direct working rules of moral action

a personal code of conduct

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Akhlaq is the plural of khuluq which simply refers to innate disposition, character, behaviour, attitude, custom and tradition

an established state of the soul which can generate action easily without any need for thinking and deliberation

Imam al-Ghazali: akhlaq is “an established state [of the soul] from which action proceeds easily, without any need for reflection and deliberation….”

Ibn Miskawayh, akhlaq is “a state of the soul which causes it to perform its action without thought or deliberation

Good character (husn al-khuluq): praiseworthy character (al-akhlaq al-mahmudah)

Bad character (su’ al-khuluq): blameworthy character (al-akhlaq al-madhmumah)

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The normative pattern of human actions or moral conduct

“right behaviour in the light of religion”

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an action or deed will be considered as good or ethical if it conforms to the standard norms of morality, and bad or unethical when it breaches them

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Righteousness which bears the meaning in Hebrew of charity

To be righteous is to love God. That love is best expressed through acts of charity (philanthropy)

Zekhut (Barakah): the merit, source of divine favor

doing what we ought to do but do not have to do

Zekhut pertains to deeds of supererogatory character

Charity and righteousness = sedaqah

The Opposite

acts of arrogance upset the relationship with God. - an act of supreme arrogance: losing one’s temper

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A kippah (pronounced kee-pah) is the Hebrew word for the skullcap traditionally worn by Jewish men

Kippot (plural of kippah) are worn at the apex of a person's head

Payot (also pe'ot, peyot, payos, peyos; Hebrew: singular ,פֵּאָה ;plural ,פֵּאוֹת‎) is the Hebrew word for sidelocks or sidecurls. (against shaving the "corners" of one's head)

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Good: the truly good character

Bad: selfishness and pride and arrogance

Eternal Punishment

(1) idolatrous worship, (2) sexual misbehavior, (3) murder, and (4) gossip, which is worse than all of them [altogether].

Why is rejection of the Torah not forgivable?

Because the Torah affords knowledge of God and God’s will, and rejecting the Torah then brings about all other vices and sins, constituting the ultimate act of arrogance

What is the antidote?

shaping of one’s attitude and intentionality in the proper way

How is this done?

It is through close study of the Torah

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living a good life or doing what is right is not a way of winning God’s approval

This love of God was demonstrated in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

The Christian does not earn the love of God by being good.

The fallen man:
Original Sin - Corrupted Nature - Helpless -  God’s grace – Jesus as God’s love - Salvation

God’s love through Jesus:

•Jesus as the Son of God

•Incarnation

•Crucifixion

•Resurrection

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Life in this world is certainly the time of our humiliation.

The humility of Christ has taught us to be humble because he yielded to the wicked in his death

The link between devotion to Christ and eschatology. Devotion to him, the imitation of Christ, is because of death, and resurrection maps the path into God’s kingdom

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Christian life as inherently painful, and yet as inherently hopeful for that reason

the willing experience of pain actually permits us to know our true selves, to form a cross of what alienates us from God, and so through the death of selfishness to understand who we truly are before God

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The first constitution of man was as an imitation of the likeness of God

What actions of ours are like the actions of God?

Those that are alien from all evil, purifying themselves as far as possible in deed and work and thought from all vileness

Insincerity - has been recognized as the chief weakness within Christian character

What is Sin?

“Sin” as being the reason for the mess.

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Love is the supreme Christian virtue while joy comes next in the list

THE SEVEN VIRTUES

Theological virtues – faith, hope and love – and four cardinal virtues – prudence, justice, temperance and fortitude

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“lower” self – the self that produces and reaps karma of either good or bad, pleasant or unpleasant

Dharma: this term means “duty,” “moral obligation,” “religious law,” or “principle,” and guides both the public and private life of the individual

Following one’s dharma is in most texts regarded as the supreme virtue

Dharma comes in two forms in Hinduism:

“general” or “universal” dharma, which is theoretically applicable to all Hindus regardless of their class or caste, and

“particular” dharma (svadharma, literally meaning “one’s own dharma”), which is duty and virtue tailored to one’s individual circumstance

particularized duty ⁽svadharma⁾ are guided by the birth and circumstances of the individual and how the individual is to fit into society

adharma or “evil” can refer to doing “another man’s duty,” or stepping outside the boundaries that were set for you by the class and caste in which you were born

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Personal virtue concerns the way in which an individual performs his or her social duty

contentment with one’s lot and the determination to fulfill the social duties assigned to one’s class

Personal virtue concerns detaching oneself from the world of desire, self-aggrandizement, greed, and ambition

The man of virtue does his duty without regard to the karmic “fruits” of such action

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“good character” as fulfilling oneself within the boundaries of one’s inborn and inherent nature

“bad character” is demonstrated by one’s rebellion against one’s inborn nature

One of the possible indigenous terms for “character” in this religion would be adhikara – “predilection,” “competency,” “inherent ability,” or “predisposition