| Summary: | Due to the lack of comparative studies referring to so-called values among the Jewish and Christian faith, the following study examines various interpretations of the Decalogue in the Hebrew Bible. These expositions originate from the Roman Catholic, Jewish and Reformed Evangelical tradition. Since the Ten Commandments have been considered influential in several traditions, this study attempts to identify their authority, purpose and status based on the writings of three different theologians. The analysis does not take the whole tradition itself into account, but seeks to discover diverse perspectives, in order to promote a nuanced result. Hence, the results neither speak for the entire denomination nor its believers. Furthermore, the approach of the study is an analysis of ideas, a commonly used method regarding statements of all kind, principally political and religious commentaries. The method endeavors to describe in order to supply further information not explicitly mentioned by the material itself. Thus, the analysis proceeds from theoretical perspectives such as the Euthyphro dialogue, Biblical hermeneutics and covenant. The theologians agree that morality originates from God because of God’s will. Yet there is disagreement regarding its purpose among all three authors. The Roman Catholic and Jewish author emphasize the covenant as a reason to honor the Ten Commandments and have a liberal approach combined with a historical-critical perspective of the Bible, whereas the Reformed Evangelical author expresses a conservative view, equating the Bible with the actual word of God. The Decalogue enjoys a higher status among the Christian authors, although the Roman Catholic author values the Golden Rule significantly more. The issue regarding whether the Decalogue ought to be treated as being above every other law remains unclear based on the material, but is highly more focused than other commandments in the Hebrew Bible. Definitively the study identifies uniting differences from a wide range of beliefs in the theological area.
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