Accommodation Ethics

Abstract

Accommodation, once a common ethical category, has become unpopular. These two papers argue that Paul uses accommodation as a positive principle of behaviour. Gooch explores the question in a philosophical framework, clarifying the terms and examining the moral justification of behaviour. His analysis of 1 Cor 9:19-23 distinguishes three "logics" of accommodation (theological, epistemological and ethical) and asks what kind of accommodation Paul approved. Gooch concludes with some puzzles about Paul's practice. Richardson moves behind Paul's statement of an accommodation ethic to the early Christian sources. Building on Daube's analysis of a proselytizing tradition in Hillel, he suggests that primitive Christianity needed a way to deal with apostolic adaptation. He finds these roots in pre-Pauline traditions, in traditions contained in Acts, and in the Jesus material.