The Ethos of the Bible

This book contributes substantially to the formation of a vital sense of ethos and ethics in harmony with the biblical tradition. Birger Gerhardsson points out those essential characteristics which make up the Bible's basic unity in the midst of its diversity and, in the final chapter, provides a summary of the Bible's ethos. This summary is preceded by an historical description of the ethos of postexilic Judaism and early Christianity - from about five hundred years before Christ to the mid-second century being the period covered. Distinctive to this book is its demonstration of the role which the fundamental command of love for God (Deut. 6:4-5) played in the ethical thinking of early Christianity, not only through the profound idea at its root, but also through its wording.