Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Political Theory and Paul

So I haven't mentioned my other class - Political Theory and Paul - because for the most part it's not relevant to a blog that is supposedly about economics. In addition, the class is all discussion based on textual readings of Paul's letters. The discussions would be really hard to re-create on a blog and it would make my head spin to try to do it on a daily basis.

I did want to mention one line from Paul that really has been resonating with me: 2 Corinthians (8:15). "As it is written, He that gathered much had nothing over; and he that gathered little had no lack." (King James)

We are discussing Paul as arguing in many ways for a new world in the wake of Jesus's death. The covenant of Yahweh with the Children of Israel has been fulfilled with the death and resurrection, and the world and the law that governs it has been fundamentally changed. If you read Paul as trying to describe some kind of new society, I think this line could define how to live a happy life.

It rings with the environmentalism Zach preaches to me, it rings with the "work to live" rather than "live to work" philosophy I've seen here in Italy. I have realized upon examination of the books I've really enjoyed reading that I am incredibly interested in how to create a world where everyone is happy, everything works, etc. Basically, I am looking for utopia, and I think this line from Paul (and technically he is quoting Exodus) would be one of my founding principles.

2 comments:

Lois Hughes said...

What Paul said reminds me of Aristotle's words..."Wisest is he who thinks he knows nothing", or that famous cliche "the higher you place yourself, the harder you fall".

Pete Abbate said...

I hadn't thought of it in that sense, but I see the connection you make between the two. That's one of my favorite quotes and I'm pleased to hear you mention it!

Compared with the totality of knowledge which is continually utilized in the evolution of a dynamic civilization, the difference between the knowledge that the wisest and that which the most ignorant individual can deliberately employ is comparatively insignificant. ~Fredrich Hayek in The Constitution of Liberty