I quite agree with this, particularly since there is a straightforward explanation why Christian scripture would not have focused on people far away in time and space: there were fewer technological possibilities for affecting people far away than there are today. [Edit: I now realize this point appears in footnote 2]
I do find it noteworthy that on the one occasion where Jesus was asked whom to count as a neighbour, he deliberately expands the circle and asks listeners to think about whom they can be a neighbour to.
It’s a good point about the moral circle expansion.
Maybe I can flip it and ask you: To the extent that Christians do not behave impartially towards people in other countries or people who won’t be born for hundreds of years, do you think they are failing to follow the teachings of Christ?
-- If we don’t radically expand our concern and love relative to the status quo, we are not following the teachings of Christ
—It’s hard to see the specific kind and strength of impartiality that utilitarianism recommends in the Bible (but this doesn’t mean, as I said in the first point, that the status quo is OK)
I quite agree with this, particularly since there is a straightforward explanation why Christian scripture would not have focused on people far away in time and space: there were fewer technological possibilities for affecting people far away than there are today. [Edit: I now realize this point appears in footnote 2]
I do find it noteworthy that on the one occasion where Jesus was asked whom to count as a neighbour, he deliberately expands the circle and asks listeners to think about whom they can be a neighbour to.
It’s a good point about the moral circle expansion.
Maybe I can flip it and ask you: To the extent that Christians do not behave impartially towards people in other countries or people who won’t be born for hundreds of years, do you think they are failing to follow the teachings of Christ?
Hm, hard question.
Personally, I would think:
-- If we don’t radically expand our concern and love relative to the status quo, we are not following the teachings of Christ
—It’s hard to see the specific kind and strength of impartiality that utilitarianism recommends in the Bible (but this doesn’t mean, as I said in the first point, that the status quo is OK)