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"Loving the Stranger": The Key to Prosperity
Abstract
To love the stranger is a core biblical imperative. This paper examines the meaning and implications of this unusual precept. It demonstrates that the prosperity of all nations is contingent on their embracing and their institutionalization of this principle. As history testifies, hatred of strangers lay at the heart of countless wars and the demise of numerous ancient and modern nations and empires.
... The idea of not oppressing strangers is mentioned dozens of times in Scripture (Friedman & Gerstein, 2015). "Strangers" are people who are different, and oppression against them includes everything from racism to xenophobia. ...
... The Bible dictates the love of God (Deuteronomy 6: 5), but not nearly as many times as it commands concern for the stranger. Friedman & Gerstein (2015) demonstrate how the precept of loving the stranger is linked to economic prosperity by the Torah. ...
The trait of “Hakaras HaTov” which means recognizing the good is discussed often in many Jewish sources. It actually relates to three different but related ideas: (1) the obligation to recognize the good that is being done whether by an inanimate object, person, or God; (2) the importance of being optimistic; and (3) the importance of showing gratitude. The Talmud asserts that the punishment for being an ingrate is described in the verse (Proverbs 17:13): “He who repays evil for good, evil shall not depart from his house.” This paper will explore why this middah (trait) is so important to Judaism. It also examines what modern scholarship has to say about gratitude and thankfulness.
... 7:10). Friedman and Gerstein (2015), for instance, emphasize the biblical imperative to love the stranger. Only a fertile, free society will lead to the fullest form of spontaneous dynamism that results when entrepreneurs are free to pursue their vocations lived out in response to their answers to these kinds of concerns. ...
Although often acknowledged as critically important, the role of the entrepreneur in the modern economy is often underdeveloped or inadequately understood. The reason for this is in large part due to the complex anthropological mysteries that lie at the heart of entrepreneurship. The Christian moral tradition provides important insights into the nature of the human person, particularly with respect to entrepreneurial activity, that provide a more comprehensive understanding of human action. Christian teachings regarding the creation of the cosmos, the human person as created in the image of God (imago Dei), and human beings as free moral agents combine to present an account of entrepreneurship in terms of spiritual as well as material realities. From the Christian perspective, the soul of the entrepreneur is determinative for his or her role in promoting human flourishing.
There are numerous terms that should be seen as positive values but have been co-opted by today's cultural wars. These terms include "woke," "social justice," "cancel culture," "identity politics," "politically correct," "Black Lives Matter," and DEI. Surprisingly, the term DEI, which stands for diversity, equity, and inclusion, has negative connotations today. These are noble values that anyone with a soul should admire. This paper examines what went wrong and how to fix the problem. A biblical approach to DEI is discussed. Leaders need to understand the correct way to advocate for the ideals of diversity, equity, and inclusion in a way that brings people together and does not offend.
The authors discuss why workforce diversity might be vital to ensure success in today’s knowledge economy. Firms that want fresh ideas, strong growth, a positive company image, fewer discrimination lawsuits, and the enhanced ability to hire qualified workers should be aggressive about workforce diversity.
Using a comparative method, this article explores the reasons for the absence of a legal ban on Muslim headscarves in the United States. Study of France reveals a culture that values "public space" and "citizenship." The United States places more value on the generic concept of "religion" as the unifying bond among individuals, even of different religious groupings. Cross-religious sympathy is a distinctive feature of American culture and reflected in legal briefs to the Supreme Court. The article suggests that legal concepts are not merely reflections of social institutions but are important social facts in themselves.
In a series of cross-cultural experiments, we explore whether mentioning President Obama’s middle name facilitates or impedes his delicate position as a peace broker. Our first study shows that including Obama’s middle name with his Cairo address leads Israeli Jews to perceive him as biased toward the Palestinians. Our second and third studies extend these findings in two ways. First, we show that these groups also are influenced when we manipulate the inclusion of Obama’s middle name using a television clip, as opposed to a printed news article.Second, we analyze whether the use of Obama’s middle name inspires the same reactions in the United States by replicating the study in the United States. Results show that the effect of Obama’s middle name differs in the United States. This study has important implications, not only for the President Obama's standing in the Arab world and for the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, but also for our understanding of subtle ethnic cues and biases across cultural contexts.
Cultivation theory suggests that society holds very different body standards for men versus women, and research indicates that the consequences of defying these social norms may not be linear. To test these notions in the employment context, we examined the relationship between weight and income and the degree to which the relationship varies by gender. For women, we theorized a negative weight–income relationship that is steepest at the thin end of the distribution. For men, we predicted a positive weight–income relationship until obesity, where it becomes negative. To test these hypotheses, we utilized 2 longitudinal studies, 1 German and 1 American. In Study 1, weight was measured over 2 time periods, and earnings were averaged over the subsequent 5 years. Study 2 was a multilevel study in which weight and earnings were within-individual variables observed over time, and gender was a between-individual variable. Results from the 2 studies generally support the hypotheses, even when examining within-individual changes in weight over time.
The authors investigated core self-evaluations and educational attainment as mediating mechanisms for the influence of appearance (physical attractiveness) and intelligence (general mental ability) on income and financial strain. The direct effects of core self-evaluations on financial strain, as well as the indirect effects through income, were also considered. Longitudinal data were obtained as part of a national study, the Harvard Study of Health and Life Quality, and proposed models were evaluated with structural equation modeling. Results supported a partially mediated model, such that general mental ability and physical attractiveness exhibited both direct and indirect effects on income, as mediated by educational attainment and core self-evaluations. Finally, income negatively predicted financial strain, whereas core self-evaluations had both a direct and an indirect (through income) negative effect on financial strain. Overall, the results suggest that looks (physical attractiveness), brains (intelligence), and personality (core self-evaluations) are all important to income and financial strain.
