Original scientific paper

Biblical Inspiration for Solidarity Today

Ivan Dugandžić ; Catholic Faculty of Theology, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia

Abstract

This article deals with the question of whether the Bible and its contents can serve as a book of inspiration for solidarity today. Starting from various ways of living solidarity, which are not hard to notice in the Bible, the author goes one step further and asks is this common to the Bible and other nations of those times or can we speak of this being specific to the Bible. Does the notion of solidarity originate from the notion of God's people and Israel's image of God? The article deals with the Old Testament and in particular the Deuteronomy in which we see hints of a redefinition of Jewish society after its negative experiences with monarchy. A special investigation is conducted of laws and institutions whose aim is to create a society in Israel without poverty, a society of equality and brotherly relations. The article further investigates whether this trace continues in the New Testament. Did Jesus of Nazareth preserve this ideal in his proclamation of the Kingdom of God and how does this proclamation relate to this world's reality? Starting from the image of the Judaic-Christian society in Jerusalem, as is offered by Luke in the Acts of the Apostles, it seems that this community considered itself as the reality of God's people according to the ideals of the Deuteronomy. The author questions what did the Christian community in pagan times, which was not familiar with the Old Testament's ideal of God's people, base its feelings of brotherly love and mutual solidarity upon.

Keywords

solidarity; God's people; community of celebration; brotherhood; social laws; year of forgiveness; the Sabbath

Hrčak ID:

24342

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/24342

Publication date:

27.6.2006.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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