{"id":77112,"date":"2019-08-15T10:38:18","date_gmt":"2019-08-15T16:38:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=77112"},"modified":"2019-08-15T10:38:39","modified_gmt":"2019-08-15T16:38:39","slug":"77112","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/08\/77112.html","title":{"rendered":"Compassion and Religion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"One<\/a>
Qur\u2019an 5:48<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd We have sent the Book down\u00a0to you in truth, confirming what you already have of the Book\u00a0and as a criterion for\u00a0it. So judge between them by what God\u00a0has sent down\u00a0and do not follow their inclinations away from what has come to you of the truth. To each of you We prescribed a law and a method. Had God\u00a0willed, He would have made you one faith-community, but [He intended] to test you in what He has given you; so race to the\u00a0good. Your return, all together, is to God, and He will [then] inform you regarding\u00a0that over which you used to differ.\u201d (Qur\u2019an 5:48)<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Published a number of years ago, a cartoon in the\u00a0Economist<\/em> shows two people speaking amid the smoking ruins of their respective cities, surrounded by dead and wounded. \u00a0They explain that they were fighting over whose version of God is the most kind and compassionate.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
A highly stylized rendering of the Arabic for \u201cIn the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cA prostitute was forgiven by Allah, because, passing by a panting dog near a well and seeing that the dog was about to die of thirst, she took off her shoe, and, tying it with her head-cover, drew out some water for it. \u00a0So Allah forgave her because of that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Cited in the Sahih al-Bukhari<\/em>, 4:538<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

It has to be recalled, in this context, that, in the Middle East, dogs are often wild, and often scavengers. \u00a0In fact, sometimes they travel in packs and can be somewhat frightening. \u00a0They\u2019re not always highly thought of. \u00a0In reading this tradition from the Prophet, don\u2019t be thinking of an adorable little puppy.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, it\u2019s not only Islam that teaches compassion. \u00a0Christianity does, as well:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

A little more than three years ago, with another couple, my wife and I visited the small but beautiful Spanish town of \u00c1vila, where they were celebrating the five hundredth anniversary of the birth of their famous and beloved\u00a0saint, Teresa (generally known as either St. Teresa of Jesus or St. Teresa of \u00c1vila), who lived from 1515 to 1582.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

One of the great mystics of the Catholic tradition, she was the author of such works as El Castillo Interior<\/em>\u00a0(\u201c<\/span>The Interior Castle\u201d), El\u00a0Camino de Perfecci\u00f3n<\/em> (\u201cThe Way of Perfection\u201d), and an autobiography, which are considered not only masterpieces of Catholic devotional\u00a0writing but classics of Spanish Renaissance literature altogether. \u00a0She was canonized by Pope Gregory XV in 1622, forty years after her death. \u00a0In 1970, Pope Paul VI named her a \u201cDoctor of the Church\u201d \u2014 i.e., an officially recognized teacher of doctrine and practice.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Rubens's<\/a>
\u201cTeresa of \u00c1vila,\u201d by\u00a0Peter Paul Rubens (ca. 1615);\u00a0Wikimedia CC public domain<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The following beautiful lines are attributed to her:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Christ has no body but yours,<\/span><\/p>\n

No hands, no feet on earth but yours.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yours are the eyes with which he looks<\/span><\/p>\n

Compassion on this world.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yours are the hands with which he blesses all the world.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,<\/span><\/p>\n

Yours are the eyes, you are his body.<\/span><\/p>\n

Christ has no body now but yours,<\/span><\/p>\n

No hands, no feet on earth but yours,<\/span><\/p>\n

Yours are the eyes with which he looks<\/span><\/p>\n

compassion on this world.<\/span><\/p>\n

Christ has no body now on earth but yours.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

And let\u2019s not forget Buddhism<\/a>. \u00a0Many years ago, probably while still a teenager, I read through an anthology by E. A. Burtt called The Teachings of the Compassionate Buddha<\/em>. \u00a0I\u2019m not sure that I really understood much of the book, but, unexpectedly, its title has lingered as a beautiful thing in my memory ever since.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Posted from St. George, Utah<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cAnd We have sent the Book down\u00a0to you in truth, confirming what you already have of the Book\u00a0and as a criterion for\u00a0it. So judge between them by what God\u00a0has sent down\u00a0and do not follow their inclinations away from what has come to you of the truth. To each of you We prescribed a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nCompassion and Religion<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    "And We have sent the Book down\u00a0to you in truth, confirming what you already have of the Book\u00a0and as a criterion for\u00a0it. 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