Scholarly record

HONOR FOR PARENTS AND FAMILY IN THE CONTEXT OF RELIGIOUS ETHICS

M. Zavis

Abstract

Honor for parents and the institution of the family, which are the basis of rightly functioning world according to holy scriptures of world religions, are in postmodern world going through heavy and long-term crisis. Children and youth are raised in the social environment full of fear, distrust, egocentrism, consumerism and lax values, which are promoted by masmedia and popular personalities. Parents are no more generally considered to be decisive and certain authority for their descendants. Due to the increasing divorce rates and the number of unmarried couples who raise their children, the institution of the classical family does not have the importance and the role of necessity as it used to have in the past. Modern society promotes personal freedom and licenciousness of the individual as the highest level of self-actualization. This model of living however doesn’t seem to be the best one, because it looses the dimension and the value of the interconnection of human beings. As a counterbalance to this reality we perceive repeated and highly accentuated emphasis on respect, honor for parents and family, resonating in all the holy scriptures of world religions. How do they sound and what is the intent of these sacred ethical texts? Are they comparable in wording and role in different religions? Do they still have the justification of use in the modern forms of family and postmodern society? We will focus on these questions and try to give well-researched answers using analytic, hermeneutic, comparative and synthetic method.

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