The Judaeo-Christian Tradition as a Source of a Paradigm of Sustainable Development
Małgorzata Pink
University of Agriculture in Krakow, Institute of Economics and Social Sciences, Department of Economics and Economic Policy, al. Mickiewicza 21, 31-120 Kraków, Poland (Poland)
Abstract
The economic development of the last two hundred years has had no precedent in human history. Its dynamic was mainly a result of knowledge and technological progress, but was also associated with the adoption and acceptance of utilitarian values and thus the formulation of social aims in terms of profit for the producer and utility for the consumer. This attitude, perforce a short-term one, triggered an unusually fast increase in production, which allowed many societies to make a civilization leap, albeit at the price of an imbalance in global social and ecological conditions.
An attempt to restore ecological and social balance involves a change of economic paradigm to one that takes into account social needs and the limitations of nature. The economics of sustainable development is a concept, where economic objectives and the time horizon have been reformulated to include not just the question of economic development, but also ecological and socio-cultural aspects, and development itself is considered from a long-term perspective. It is a relatively modern concept, that only started to be considered as an alternative to conventional economic attitudes in the second half of the 20th century. The roots of the concept of sustainable development are usually traced back to a German culture of a forest resource management. However, the idea of development taking into account the spheres of ecology, social relations and economics seems to have its beginnings already in sources from earlier Judaeo-Christian civilisation.
The texts of The Old and New Testament and supplementary writings of Judaism and Christianity create a coherent image of social development, where the areas of ecology, social needs and economic activity take equally meaningful positions. Contrary to the opinion, popular in the 1960s based on the quote from Genesis (let them have dominion over all the earth), that Judaeo-Christian civilization is responsible for ecological catastrophe, both Judaism and Christianity sources contain a strong ecological message. Regarding social development, the problems of equitable social relations are a core issue in the Old and New Testament. The third area of in-depth analysis studies economic processes at micro- and macro-levels that are limited just by the rules of social fairness and the limitations of nature.
The paper presents a selection of sources contained in Judaeo-Christian writings relating to issues of development in the areas of ecology, society and economics, which lay the foundations for the modern paradigm of sustainable development.
Keywords:
Sustainable development, Judaeo-Christian civilization, ecology, society, economics, Old Testament, New TestamentReferences
1611 King James Bible (KJV), Cambridge Edition, Cambridge, circa 1900.
Google Scholar
ATTALI J., 2003, Żydzi, świat, pieniądze, Cyklady, Warszawa.
Google Scholar
Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Taanith http://www.halakhah.com/pdf/moed/Taanith.pdf (03.01.2016).
Google Scholar
BAKKEN P. W., ENGEL J.G., ENGEL J.R., 1995, Ecology, Justice and Christian Faith. A Critical Guide to the Literature, Greenwood Press, Westport.
Google Scholar
BARTHOLOMEW I OF CONSTANTINOPOLE, 2013, Patriarch Bartholomew’s Message to 19th Session of the Conference of the Parties https://zenit.org/articles/patriarch-bartholomew-s-message-to-19th-session-of-the-conference-of-the-parties/ (29.03.2016).
Google Scholar
BENEDICT XVI, 2011, Address to the Bundestag, Berlin, http://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/speeches/2011/september/documents /hf_ben-xvi_spe_20110922_reichstag-berlin.htm (29.03.2016).
Google Scholar
BENEDICT XVI, 2009, Homily at the Vespers July 24 in the Cathedral of Aosta, in: L'Osservatore Romano, https://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/homilies/2009/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20090724_vespri-aosta.html (10.11.2015).
Google Scholar
BILDSTEIN G. J., 2005, Tikkun olam, in: Tikkun Olam. Social Responsibility in Jewish Thought and Law, eds. Shatz D., Vaxman C.I., Diament N.J., Rowman & Littlefield, Oxford p. 17-60.
Google Scholar
COBB J.B., 1995, Is it too late? A Theology of Ecology, Environmental Ethics Books, DeLeon Springs, Florida.
Google Scholar
EASWARAN E., 2005, Words to Live By. Short Reading of Daily Wisdom, Nilgiri Press, Tomales, California.
Google Scholar
FAMIELEC J., 2014, W poszukiwaniu ładu gospodarki zrównoważonej in: Studia i Materiały. Miscellanea Oeconomicae 18, 1, p. 89-101, based on: Hauff V., Unsere gemeinsame Zukunft – Der Brundtland – Bericht der Weltkomission für Umwelt und Entwicklung, Greven 1987.
Google Scholar
FRANCIS, 2015, Laudato Si', Vatican.
Google Scholar
GAL-ED E., 2005, Księga świąt żydowskich, Cyklady, Warszawa.
Google Scholar
GOTTLIEB R.S., 2006a, A Greener Faith: Religious Environmentalism and Our Planet’s Future, Oxford University Press, Inc., New York.
Google Scholar
GOTTLIEB R.S., 2006b, The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Ecology, Oxford University Press, Inc. New York.
Google Scholar
HARRIS J.M., WISE T.A., GALLAGHER K. P., GOODWIN N. R., 2001, A Survey on Sustainable Development. Social and Economic Dimensions Frontier Issues in Economic Thought, Neva R. Goodwin, Series Editor, Island Press.
Google Scholar
ISAAC M. D., 2005, Centennial Rumination on Max Weber's The Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of Capitalism, Universal Publishers, Boca Raton, Florida.
Google Scholar
IUNC/UNEP/WWF, 1991, Caring for the Earth. A Strategy for Sustainable Living, Gland, Switzerland.
Google Scholar
JOHN PAUL II, 1979, Redemptor Hominis, Vatican.
Google Scholar
KIETLIŃSKI K., 2006, Religijne determinanty działalności gospodarczej w perspektywie czterech wielkich religii: judaizmu, buddyzmu, chrześcijaństwa i islamu, in: Nierówności społeczne a wzrost gospodarczy, 8 (1), p. 43-59.
Google Scholar
MADDISON A., 2001, The World Economy. A Millennial Perspective, OECD Publications, Paris.
Google Scholar
MADDISON A., 2007, Contours of the World Economy, 1-2030 AD: Essays on Macroeconomic History, Oxford University Press, Oxford, New York.
Google Scholar
MELLO A., 2002 Judaizm, WAM, Kraków.
Google Scholar
MINTZER I.M., 1992, Confronting Climate Change: Risks, Implications and Responses, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
Google Scholar
NAJDA A.J., 2008, Ekologiczne samookreślenie Jezusa w Ewangelii św. Jana, in: Studia Ecologicae et Bioethicae, 6, p. 93-104.
Google Scholar
OMOBOWALE E.B., SINGER P.A., DAAR A.S., 2009, The three main monotheistic religions and GMO food technology: an overview of perspectives, in: BMC International Health and Human Rights, http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1472-698X-9-18.pdf (17.12.2015).
Google Scholar
PAPUZIŃSKI A., 2013, Aksjologia zrównoważonego rozwoju: próba typologizacji, in: Problemy Ekorozwoju/ Problems of Sustainable Development, vol. 8, no. 1, p. 5-25.
Google Scholar
PAUL VI, 1965, Gaudium et Spes, Vatican.
Google Scholar
RANDERS J., 2012, A Global Forecast for the Next Forty Years – 2052, Chelsea Green Publishing, VT, USA.
Google Scholar
RATZINGER J., 1994, Wprowadzenie w chrześcijaństwo, ZNAK, Kraków.
Google Scholar
ROGALL H., 2010, Ekonomia zrównoważonego rozwoju, Zysk i S-ka, Poznań.
Google Scholar
ROTHBARD M.N., 1976, New Light on the Prehistory of the Austrian School, in: Library of Economics and Liberty, http://www.econlib.org /library/NPDBooks/Dolan/dlnFMA4.html (03.02.2016).
Google Scholar
SEDLÁČEK T., 2011, Economics of Good and Evil, Oxford University Press Inc., New York.
Google Scholar
SHAPIN S., 1988, Understanding the Merton Thesis, in: Isis, vol. 79, No. 4, p. 594-605, https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/3403054/Shapin_Understanding_Merton.pdf?sequence=2 (20.01.2016).
Google Scholar
SINTADO C.A., Social Economy, Ecojustice and the New Testament, in: Liberty Readings, Ethics Theses 6, Geneva, Switzerland, http://www.globethics.net/documents/4289936/13403260/GE_theses_6_web_final.pdf/14d56ec0-39dc-4b9c-8f97-6d87276f6bd8 (10.10.2015) .
Google Scholar
SOMBART W., 2001, The Jews and Modern Capitalism, Batoche Books, Kitchener.
Google Scholar
SPYCHAJ M., 2016, Makabryczny przepis, in: Silva Rerum, Muzeum Pałacu Króla Jana III Sobieskiego w Wilanowie, http://www.wilanow-palac.pl/makabryczny_przepis.html (17.01.2016).
Google Scholar
WAGNER-TSUKAMOTO S., 2013, Ethical Principles of Old Testament Economics: Implications for the Teaching of Business Ethics, Working Paper, ULSM Leicester, University of Leicester, https://lra.le.ac.uk/bitstream/2381/27 667/2/LRA-Teaching_business_ethics_FINA L.pdf (11.11.2015).
Google Scholar
WEBER M., 2011, Etyka protestancka a duch kapitalizmu, Aletheia, Warszawa.
Google Scholar
WHITE L. 1967, The Historical Roots of our Ecological Crisis, in: Science vol. 155, p. 1203-1207.
Google Scholar
WWF, 2014, Living Planet Report, http://www.footprintnetwork.org/images/article_uploads/LPR2014_summary_low_res.pdf (10.09.2015).
Google Scholar
ZDANOWSKA M., 2012, Zmierzch epoki ekologii? in: ZNAK no. 681, http://www.miesiecznik.znak.com.pl/6812011marzena-zdanowska-zmierzch-epoki-ekologii/ (10.02.2016).
Google Scholar
Authors
Małgorzata PinkUniversity of Agriculture in Krakow, Institute of Economics and Social Sciences, Department of Economics and Economic Policy, al. Mickiewicza 21, 31-120 Kraków, Poland Poland
Statistics
Abstract views: 16PDF downloads: 6
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
