Gamaliel's principle

Rabban Gamaliel

Gamaliel's principle,[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] also called Gamaliel's rule,[8] Gamaliel's rule-of-thumb,[9] Gamaliel's counsel,[10] Gamaliel's law,[11][12] or the Gamaliel attitude,[13] is a principle outlined in the Book of Acts in the New Testament by the Rabban Gamaliel.[a] Gamaliel cautions the Jewish Sanhedrin against killing Jesus' disciples, saying that if their ideas were of human origin, they would "come to nought" and the Jews did not need to worry about them; but if they were from God, their ideas would be impossible to overthrow anyway, and if the Jews tried to stop them, they would be fighting against God. Therefore, in Gamaliel's view it would be better to do nothing and let God take care of the situation.

In modern times Gamaliel's principle has been used in support of religious pluralism and reforms within religious groups.

  1. ^ Brown, Raymond E. (1994). A once-and-coming Spirit at Pentecost: essays on the liturgical readings between Easter and Pentecost, taken from the Acts of the Apostles and from the Gospel according to John. Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press. p. 36.
  2. ^ Kealy, Sean P. (1975). The early church and Africa: a school certificate course based on the East African syllabus for Christian religious education. Nairobi: Oxford University Press. p. 77.
  3. ^ Valentine, Mary Hester (1970). Prayer and renewal : proceedings and communications of regional meetings of the Sister Formation Conferences, 1969. New York: Fordham University Press. p. 139.
  4. ^ Robertson, Constance Noyes (1977). Oneida Community profiles. Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press. p. 119.
  5. ^ Editors (Jan 12, 1922) "The Jews and Christian Liberties". The Christian Century. Vol 39. Iss 2. Christian Century Foundation.
  6. ^ Hoefer, Reginald (February 15, 2017). "The Gamaliel Principle". Dominicana.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Span was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Henry, Matthew (1992). The NIV Matthew Henry commentary in one volume. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Pub. House. p. 130.
  9. ^ Hahn, Scott; Mitch, Curtis; Walters, Dennis (2002). The Acts of the Apostles: with introduction, commentary, and notes. San Francisco, CA : Ignatius Press. p. 67.
  10. ^ MacLaren, Alexander (1900). Expositions of Holy Scripture: the Acts. London: Hodder & Stoughton. p. 196.
  11. ^ Byrne, Lavinia (1991). The Hidden tradition: women's spiritual writings rediscovered: an anthology. New York: Crossroad. p. 2.
  12. ^ Moore, Paul (1979). Take a Bishop like me. New York: Harper & Row. p. 183.
  13. ^ Boone, Pat (1975). My brother's keeper?. New York: Pillar Books. pp. 52-56. (Originally titled Dr. Balaam's talking mule.)
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference Exell was invoked but never defined (see the help page).


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