The Craziest Thing I Ever Heard . . .

[volgadon]

EDIT: I see Volgadon beat me to it. Kinship and patronage: the contexts of Old and New Testament faith, grace, and works. Once again, I suggest reading my interfaith dialogue presentation.

You have some additional, excellent posts on this topic.

[Libs]

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Which, with all due respect, boils down to a massive misunderstanding of what grace meant in both Old and New Testament times.

Grace wasn't a free gift with no strings attached, nor was it the antithesis of "works". Grace originally was a kinship term, and later became one of patronage also. grace meant the proper conduct among kin, or in a kinship theology (which is what covenants are). The chief kinsman would protect and provide for his kin. This was grace. Though they would rarely be able to repay the kinsman exactly what they were given (they usually could not, that was why they needed help) they were expected to do what they could. The kind of thing we would think of as works were actually termed graces!

Actually, I think we are saying approximately the same thing. When I said the Book of Mormon (and Old Testatment) are "works" oriented, I meant that they do not teach a "grace alone" theology. They teach covenant theology, where grace and works go together.

Thank you for the interesting historical information. I think that is probably a very good comparison.

[volgadon]

I just thought it important to point out that there isn't a wide divide between grace in either of the testaments.