Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2016

Abstract

Do contemporary Jews see the Bible as a source for a modern language of human rights?

At first glance, there are overwhelming differences between the thought world of the Bible and that of modern human rights. The HB/OT is essentially theocentric, whereas the discourse of human rights is anthropocentric. The very word “rights,” as it is used today, does not appear in the HB/OT. The nearest equivalent is perhaps the biblical word mitswah, a concept whose closest equivalent among modern secular concepts would be “obligation.”

Comments

Originally published in Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception, Encyclopedia Series Vol. XII (Berlin; New York: Walter De Gruyter Inc., 2016), 529-532

https://www.degruyter.com/view/product/205640

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