Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 8446 Plough Quarterly • Spring 2016 Who does this “you” refer to? Abraham of course. But not Abraham alone. For not only he but also his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and the persons they had acquired in Haran all left their old homeland (Gen. 12:4–5). That is, Abraham set out with his whole extended family, with his cattle and tents, toward Canaan. This linguistic background, which in the Old Testament is self-evident, is the setting for the commandment of neighbor-love in Leviticus 19:18, 34. Accordingly, here “Love your neighbor as yourself” means: The help and solidarity that everyone in Israel owes his own relatives, especially his direct family, should be extended to all Israelites. The boundaries of one’s own family should be broken through so as to include the whole people of God as brothers and sisters – including strangers, and even those whom one’s family and relatives consider enemies. That is what Leviticus 19 is saying. This thought is light years away from the individualistic self-love so widely advocated today. It is just this revolutionary move that Jesus picks up on. He goes on to radicalize it further. In the Pentateuch the commandment to love God and the command- ment to love one’s neighbor are unconnected: one is found in Deuteronomy 6, the other in Leviticus 19. Jesus combines the two, 21 and what is more, he makes the command to love one’s neighbor equal in importance to the command to love God (Matt. 22:37–40). For him, these two commandments cannot be separated. He places both together at the center of the Torah. According to Jesus, those whom we are to love are not distant; we are not told to embrace all humankind as our neighbors “in spirit.” No, our task is more concrete: to put aside enmities within the people of God, to treat even strangers living within this people as brothers and sisters – that is, to accept them into the protected space of mutual respect and solidarity. This is the biblical meaning of agapē. Did the early church understand and live out this radical love of neighbor in the way Jesus did – as a sign of the approaching reign of God? It would certainly be fruitful at this point to make a thorough study of Paul’s letters. They make clear how for him, agapē within the church was central. Paul’s letters also show that for him, just as in the Old Testament, agapē consisted not of beautiful feelings but rather of mutual acceptance, respect, help, and solidarity. For Paul this solidarity extended even beyond the Christian church. In that case, however, he no longer speaks of agapē but rather of “doing good.” 22 Finally, Paul’s letters show that Christian agapē has its deepest root in Jesus, who gave himself on the cross. I will not delve more deeply here into Paul’s letters, but rather will turn at this point to the early church of the second and third centuries. Did this church live out the mutual agapē that was at the heart of Jesus’ kingdom praxis? Here much evidence could be adduced from both the early Christian theologians and the early apologists. I have chosen to focus on three Christian texts. The first is an important passage from Justin’s Apology, written around AD 150–155. Chapter 67 of the Apology is noteworthy because it is the oldest description For the early Christians, love of neighbor meant practical mutual care.