Christianity and Tolerance

Karen Armstrong (1993) further noted that the people of the Jewish community were actively intolerant of their neighbors' religious beliefs and practices. She indicated that this was a new religious attitude and that it was hard-fought, resulting in a monotheism that had little tolerance for other religions. Essentially, elements of intolerance are associated with the rise of monotheism, while tolerance is associated with the early paganism.

Given this context how would a concept of tolerance develop from this culture? Are there elements within the Christian Scriptures that can be used to create a Christian concept of tolerance? The intent of this paper is to explore the Christian Scriptures and literature to identify paradigms for tolerance.

The word "tolerance" itself is not one utilized in the Christian Scriptures. It might be helpful to start with a definition and understanding of the te

. . .
e is the discussion of the Mosaic code which controlled retaliation by limiting it to equal recompense, as in an "eye for an eye". In this new teaching, however, that is overturned and retaliation is transformed into a different form of relationship with one's enemies. If not tolerance, this is certainly a form of acceptance within community (Matthew 5:38-48). People are exhorted to love their enemies so that they may be like God, which seems to indicate that this God loves all kinds of people, even those who seem to be enemies of the Jewish people (Matthew 5:44-45). Another form of tolerance, or forbearance, is inherent in the Lord's Prayer, which is set forth in Matthew 6:7-13. Specifically, the community is taught to ask for forgiveness, while also forgiving those who owe them. In other words, the people are taught that they must give to others what they ask for themselves (Metzger and Murphy, 1991, 9NT). Another example is in the collected sayings of Jesus which are set forth in Matthew 5-9, there is a segment dealing specifically with judgment and the relationship of people. This passage, from Matthew 7:1-5, deals specifically with judgment. According to the Scripture, the individual is told not to judge others so tha
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
Christian Scriptures, According Malina, According Scripture, Metzger Murphy, Jacob Jewish, Gentiles Romans, Judaism Torah, Roget's Thesaurus, Karen Armstrong, Bruce Malina, beliefs practices, christian scriptures, jewish people, jewish community, concept tolerance, armstrong 1993, model tolerance, people's beliefs practices, people's beliefs, judgment relationship people, intolerance approach, ny alfred knopf, relationship people, foundation model tolerance, metzger murphy 1991,
Approximate Word count = 2434
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)