NorCalUrban

Came across this today... "Christians pride themselves upon an ethic that exceeds the requirements of law. But it is significant that Jews, schooled in their legalistic tradition and also the inheritors of the prophetic spirit, are on the whole more depth in the field of justice than Christians. They might well say to Christians what Cosimo de'Medici said to Catholics in the Renaissance: "You have built your ladders into the heavens. We will not seek so high or sink so low." Christian businessman are more frequently characterized by a spirit of philanthropy than by a spirit of justice in asserting the claims and counterclaims of economic groups. Love in the form of philanthropy is, in fact, on a lower level than a high form of justice. For philanthropy is given to those who make no claims against us, who do not challenge our goodness or disinterestedness. An act of philanthropy may thus be an expression of both power and moral complacency. An act of justice on the ot...