The methodological significance of suspension of law and morals in the parable of the parable of the Good Samaritan: A study of modern-day political economy principles vis-à-vis the heart-level gospel principle

• Main Author: Dagmang, Ferdinand D.
• Format: text
• Published: Animo Repository 2009
• Subjects: Helping behavior; Compassion; Empathy—Religious aspects—Christianity; Helping behavior—Religious aspects—Christianity; Good Samaritan (Parable); Social norms; Capitalism—Moral and ethical aspects
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/faculty_research/6765
• Institution: De La Salle University

This article takes Jesus of Nazareth’s way of narrating the parable of the Good Samaritan as a heuristic device; an aid in the exploration and discovery of some answers (or more questions) to problem concerning helping behavior. Jesus has “opted” to 1) suspend and 2) discredit norms in front of the nobility of a higher but heart-level principle of compassion. His narrative, thus, emphasizes on the tearing-down of some first-order and second-order norms in order that one may get into the heart of the matter. By applying this “method,” this article uncovers the subordinating/colonizing presence of modern-day norms and political economy principles and further underline the importance of the subordinated practice of emphatic assistance.