The “rule of law” is a significant societal concept that has evolved from the embryonic thoughts of ancient Greek philosophers to the political principle of modern sovereign states. As a means to attain good governance and social order, justice and well-being, the law predominantly involves judgment-making, which is also a common theme in religious text. By scrutinizing theological scripture and writings, we can better understand the perspectives of these authors on judgment of right and wrong, good and evil. As we see from the Bible, Confession, and 95 Theses, in the course of writing about judgment, the authors all tend to appeal to authority, but in different means; all these writings are crucial to the political epistemology and
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In the Old Testament, the authority judgement of god is emphasized. Genesis accounts for the god’s omnipotent role in creation of the world, and thus he has the paramount and absolute authority to make inviolable judgments. The first rule from god is that Adam and Eve shall not eat the fruit and neither shall they touch it. And after Adam and Eve were seduced into tasting the forbidden fruit, the God gave each of them different penalty and drove them out of Eden. This plot first exemplifies that transgression, contrary to the will of god, will result in punishment. The moral of the four stories in Genesis is that the volition of human, without the direction of god, will result in sins and catastrophic chaos. By counterposing the will of god, which corresponds to the good, and the free will of human, which corresponds to the evil, the author is attaching absolute authority to the unattainable position of god, who is above us all; the ultimate and legitimate goal of human should be being loyal to the Lord and salvage themselves from sins. Exodus documents a religious campaign, which, in a sense, is also a political appeal and movement. The lord instructs Moses to lead and “bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt,” so that they will no longer be enslaved and persecuted. Chapter 20 to 30 documents all the laws God expressed to Moses and in these chapters,
In the Old Testament, the authority judgement of god is emphasized. Genesis accounts for the god’s omnipotent role in creation of the world, and thus he has the paramount and absolute authority to make inviolable judgments. The first rule from god is that Adam and Eve shall not eat the fruit and neither shall they touch it. And after Adam and Eve were seduced into tasting the forbidden fruit, the God gave each of them different penalty and drove them out of Eden. This plot first exemplifies that transgression, contrary to the will of god, will result in punishment. The moral of the four stories in Genesis is that the volition of human, without the direction of god, will result in sins and catastrophic chaos. By counterposing the will of god, which corresponds to the good, and the free will of human, which corresponds to the evil, the author is attaching absolute authority to the unattainable position of god, who is above us all; the ultimate and legitimate goal of human should be being loyal to the Lord and salvage themselves from sins. Exodus documents a religious campaign, which, in a sense, is also a political appeal and movement. The lord instructs Moses to lead and “bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt,” so that they will no longer be enslaved and persecuted. Chapter 20 to 30 documents all the laws God expressed to Moses and in these chapters,