Dopderbeck on Gleaning

Can you great Jesus Creed readers do me a favour? I was reading the comments of a post (I think it was an RJS post), and in the context of "accommodation" (as per the use of term in the discussion of origins, inspiration of scripture, etc.) someone mentioned Jesus and the parable of the mustard seed. I cannot seem to find it, and if anyone could track it for me, it would be greatly appreciated. If you don't mind, please email me: walshmat-at-gmail-dot-com

Sincerely,

Matt

Here's my question: Are we to assume that this rethinking of this passage applies to the US? The problem of course is that the US is not a "Christian Nation" (see notable irateness about the Patriot Bible below). Is this to the world at large absent a commitment to Christ? This is going to be hard to apply to nations with other religions at their core.

God was speaking at the time to a nation with whom He had a covenant and over whom He was King. Is there a physical kingdom right now in this world to which this passage can be applied as Dopderbeck paraphrases?

Wow -- thanks for the re-post!

Percival -- you make some good points; all of these global economic issues are complicated. As RJS mentions, I don't suggest IP rights should be abolished, but I do believe some important modifications need to be made to the international IPR system to facilitate access in developing countries to essential medicines and other basic technologies. For some extraordinarily boring and wonkish details on how I think about the North / South divide and intellectual property, see my article "Patents, Essential Medicines, and the Innovation Game," 58 Vand. L. Rev. 501 (2005) (copy here: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=458620)

Percival @ 3,

You're right, gleaning involved work. But it still involved coming, unannounced, to someone else's land and taking their crops in exchange for nothing.

What that specifically would look like in practice today is an open argument.

Intellectual property rights, properly understood, are an important part of encouraging the proliferation of arts and culture. But that is their main function. Protecting the incomes of artists (or, more accurately, corporations) is not their primary purpose.

Dave (#9) -- I don't think anyone is suggesting that the OT law is "binding" today in a one-to-one sense. I personally am not anything like a theonomist, nor, I am sure, is the professor who assigned this to us (BTW, the course was an online course at Biblical Seminary -- really great stuff!). I think, though, that the gleanings laws beautifully reflect some overriding moral themes in the Bible: that all the resources we have ultimately are given by, and belong to God; that God cares deeply about the poor, the oppressed, and the stranger; and that those who have resources are obligated to share with those in need. My paraphrase is just an attempt to apply these principles to the sort of resources that often matter most in our post-industrial culture.

Love this! This law doesn't have to do with countries and IP as much as companies. We - those following Jesus- own stock in, are employed by, and have 401k funds invested in these companies. It very much pertains to US!!

Brilliant challenge - thanks

Don't know why that link didn't work. Weird. Here's another one: http://law.vanderbilt.edu/publications/vanderbilt-law-review/archive/volume-58-number-2-march-2005/download.aspx?id=3036