"Love Thy Enemy"

Term Paper # 104980

Religion and Theology > Christianity
Religion and Theology > The Bible

"Love Thy Enemy"

An analysis of the biblical admonition "love thy enemy".

2,203 words () | 9 sources | MLA | 2008 United States

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses how the biblical admonition "love thy enemy" seems a simple prescription but entails a number of ramifications and contradictions that may create confusion and that also need examination. It examines how in some ways, the phrasing echoes the rule "love thy neighbor," although the statement to love one's enemy seems on the surface to be a contradiction, asking one to love that person who is problematic. It also examines how some analysts also contend that this phrase leads to some misunderstanding, while others see the phrase as a statement of one of the core principles of Christianity.

Outline:
Introduction
Socio-Historical Background
Literary Context
Word Study and Passage Analysis

From the Paper:

"Jeanette Rodriguez cites this phrase as a Christian ethical command and points out that it is meant to be taken seriously to bring about change "not by dehumanizing or destroying the oppressor, but by transforming the oppressor and the structures of oppression through an ethical praxis of love" (Rodriguez 317), and the very fact that it is raised in such a way, with the seeming contradiction to love one's enemy, emphasizes both the difficulty and the importance of following this prescription. The call to "love thy neighbor" is easier to accommodate even if just as difficult to do."

Sample of Sources Used:

Barth, Gerhard, Gunther Bornkamm, Heinz Joachim Held, and Percy Scott. Tradition and Interpretation in Matthew. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1963.
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. The Cost of Discipleship. New York: Macmillan, 1963.
Cheung, Vincent. The Sermon on the Mount. Boston: Reformation Ministries International, 2004.
Honderich, Ted. The Oxford Companion to Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995.
Jeremias, Joachim . The Sermon on the Mount. The Ethel M. Wood Lecture delivered before the University of London on 7 March 1961. London: The Athlone Press, 1961.