269 lines
9.9 KiB
Plaintext
269 lines
9.9 KiB
Plaintext
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SYNERGY
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While Theravada Buddhism and Jainism regard progress toward
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enlightenment as entirely a matter of individual effort, in the theistic
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religions human efforts are undertaken in the context of God's grace. The
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relationship between effort and grace is what Thomas Aquinas called
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synergy: effort calls forth grace, and grace prompts effort. A number of
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texts stress human initiative as calling forth grace--"God helps those who
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help themselves"; conversely, others describe grace as preceding and
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overshadowing human effort. The concluding text describe the conjoint
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action of human effort and divine providence, including the paradoxical
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nature of their relationship. For texts that regard salvation as by grace
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alone, see Grace, pp. 505-12.
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Be mindful of me, and I will be mindful of you.
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Islam. Qur'an 2.152
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If you say yes, your God will say yes.
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African Traditional Religions. Igbo Proverb (Nigeria)
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Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will
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draw near to you.
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Christianity. James 4.7-8
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God changes not what is in a people, until they change what is in
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themselves.
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Islam. Qur'an 13.11
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Those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be lightly
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esteemed.
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Judaism and Christianity. 1 Samuel 2.30
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Qur'an 13.11: Cf. Abot 2.4, p. 771. 1 Samuel 2.30: Cf. Sukkah 53a, p.
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114; Berakot 55a, p. 718; Matthew 13.12, p. 718.
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Realization of the holy Word is granted to those who place themselves under
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God's shelter.
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Sikhism. Adi Granth, Wadhans Chhant, M.5, p. 571
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He who longs for the Self--by him alone is the Self attained. To him does
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the Self reveal His true being.
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Hinduism. Mundaka Upanishad 3.2.3
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Remembering me, you shall overcome all difficulties through my grace. But
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if you will not heed me in your self-will, nothing will avail you.
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Hinduism. Bhagavad Gita 18.58
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He who conforms to the Way is gladly accepted by the Way; he who conforms
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to virtue is gladly accepted by virtue; he who conforms to loss is gladly
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accepted by loss.
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Taoism. Tao Te Ching 23
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If a man sanctify himself a little, he becomes much sanctified; if he
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sanctify himself below, he becomes sanctified from above; if he sanctify
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himself in this world, he becomes sanctified in the world to come.
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Judaism. Talmud, Yoma 39a
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If you wish to find the true way,
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Right action will lead you to it directly;
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But if you do not strive for Buddhahood
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You will grope in the dark and never find it.
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Buddhism. Sutra of Hui Neng 2
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In the Book of Changes it is said, "He is blessed by Heaven. Good
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fortune. Nothing that does not further."
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The Master said, To bless means to help. Heaven helps the man who is
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devoted; men help the man who is true. He who walks in truth and is
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devoted in his thinking, and furthermore reveres the worthy, is blessed by
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Heaven. "He has good fortune, and there is nothing that would not further"
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[Hexagram 42: Increase].
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Confucianism. I Ching, Great Commentary 1.12.1
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Mundaka Upanishad 3.2.3: Cf. Bhagavad Gita 7.21-23, p. 725. For a
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different and more grace-centered interpretation of this same text, in
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which it is the Self who chooses whom He will, see p. 508. Bhagavad Gita
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18.58: Cf. Hadith of Muslim, p. 758. Tao Te Ching 23: Cf. Analects 7.6,
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p. 672; 7.29, p. 114. On 'conforming to loss,' see Bhagavad Gita 7.21-23,
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Holy Teaching of Vimalakirti 6, p. 726; Makkot 10b, p. 725; Abot 4.12, p.
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717. Yoma 39a: Cf. Abot 2.4, p. 771; Berakot 55a, p. 718, Jerusalem
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Talmud, Kiddushin 1.9, p. 717.
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- - - - - - - - - - - -
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Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it
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will be opened to you. For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks
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finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man of you, if
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his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for
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fish, will give him a serpent? If you, then, who are evil, know how to
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give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in
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heaven give good things to those who ask him!
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Christianity. Bible, Matthew 7.7-11
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God has declared: I am close to the thought that My servant has of Me, and
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I am with him whenever He recollects Me. If he remembers Me in himself, I
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remember him in Myself, and if he remembers Me in a gathering I remember
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him better than those in the gathering do, and if he approaches Me by as
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much as one hand's length, I approach him by a cubit.... If he takes a
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step towards me, I run towards him.
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Islam. Hadith
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God asks nothing of any soul save that which He has given it.
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Islam. Qur'an 65.7
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God gives each person a hook with which to pluck his fruit.
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African Traditional Religions. Igbo Proverb (Nigeria)
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Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears my voice and opens
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the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.
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Christianity. Revelation 3.20
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For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own
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doing, it is the gift of God--not because of works, lest any man should
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boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good
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works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
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Christianity. Ephesians 2.8-10
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Matthew 7.7-11: Cf. Luke 6.38, p. 983; Book of Mormon, 3 Nephi 18.19-21,
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p. 827. Hadith: A sacred hadith transmitted by Ibn Hanbal, the great
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Muslim jurist. Cf. Sukkah 53a, p. 114; Romans 8:26-27, p. 648. Qur'an
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65.7: Cf. Qur'an 2.286, p. 509; 48.4 p. 645; 1 Corinthians 10.13, p. 509.
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Revelation 3.20: Cf. John 15.4-11, p. 646. Ephesians 2.8-10: The two
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halves of this passage balance the grace of God with the obligation for
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good works. Priority is given to grace, by which we are transformed and
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enabled to do the good works.
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- - - - - - - - - - - -
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Lo! this is an admonishment, that whosoever will may choose a way unto his
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Lord; yet you will not, unless God wills. Lo! God is Knower, Wise. He
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makes whom He will to enter His mercy, and for evildoers has prepared a
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painful doom.
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Islam. Qur'an 76.29-31
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Rabbi Akiba says, Everything is foreseen, yet freedom of choice is given;
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the world is judged by grace, yet all is according to the preponderance of
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works.
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Judaism. Mishnah, Abot 3.19
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By man's actions is acquired the vesture of human incarnation; By God's
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grace is attained the Door of Liberation. Nanak! Know the All-holy to be
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Almighty, Absolute.
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Sikhism. Adi Granth, Japuji 4, M.1, p. 2
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Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for God is at work in
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you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
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Christianity. Philippians 2.12-13
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No affliction befalls, except it be by the leave of God. Whosoever
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believes in God, He will guide his heart. And God has knowledge of
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everything.
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Islam. Qur'an 64.11
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Should you do anything that is beautiful, God has caused it to be
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beautiful, Should you do anything evil, God has caused it to be evil.
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African Traditional Religions. Nupe Proverb (Nigeria)
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O My servants, everyone of you is in error, except the one I have guided,
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so ask guidance from Me and I will guide you. O My servants, everyone of
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you is hungry, except him whom I have fed, so ask food of Me and I will
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feed you. O My servants, everyone of you is naked except him whom I have
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clothed, so ask clothing of Me and I will clothe you. O My servants, you
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sin day and night, and I pardon your sins; so ask pardon of Me and I will
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pardon you.
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Islam. Forty Hadith of an-Nawawi 24
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Qur'an 76.29-31: Cf. Qur'an 49.7, p. 752. Abot 3.19: This passage
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juxtaposes two pairs of contraries: divine foreknowledge and human
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freedom, and the divine attributes of mercy and justice. Cf. Exodus
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33.18, p. 689; Berakot 33b, p. 680. Philippians 2.12-13: Individual
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responsibility and the indwelling grace of God are juxtaposed in this
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passage. Cf. Romans 8.26-27, p. 648.
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All undertakings in this world depend both on the ordering of fate and on
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human exertion; but among these two the ways of fate are unfathomable; in
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the case of man's work action is possible.
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Hinduism. Laws of Manu 7.205
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All by Thee is accomplished, Thine is the might,
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Thou watcheth Thy handiwork,
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With chess pieces raw and ripe.
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All that into the world have come, must depart hence--
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All shall by turns go.
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Why put out of mind the Lord, master of life and death?
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By one's own hands is one's affairs set straight.
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Sikhism. Adi Granth, Asa-ki-Var, M.1, p. 473-74
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Lord Mahavira! Your word sometimes supports the view of providence, at
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other times calls events spontaneously occurring or ascribes destiny to
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external factors. At times you hold the deeds of individuals to be the
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mold of their desert, at other times find that another's deeds project
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their moral reflection on the individual. The miracle is that none blames
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you for these paradoxical utterances!
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Jainism. Hemachandra, Dvatrimshika 3.8
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Asa-ki-Var, M.1: The image of God in heaven moving chess pieces which
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determine man's destiny on earth is evocative of absolute predestination.
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Yet that is all the more reason to be mindful of God, Master of the game;
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for who knows on what basis he decides his moves, or whether he will not
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choose to move the pieces again?
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