Setting Boundaries Across Multiple Life Areas
The concept of boundaries, while not explicitly detailed in all theological frameworks as a distinct doctrine, can be understood through various lenses, including the fixed nature of species in Reformed theology and the ethical moderation advocated in Jewish thought.
In Reformed theology, particularly as articulated by Charles Hodge, there is an emphasis on the fixed boundaries of species within the natural world. Hodge argues that all members of the human family belong to "one and the same species," evidenced by their identical corporeal frame, skeletal structure, and distribution of blood vessels [1]. This fixed design extends to the animal kingdom, where each species is constructed according to a "minute, and so fixed" plan, such that a naturalist can identify a species from a single bone [3]. This perspective suggests inherent, divinely established boundaries in creation that define and distinguish different kinds of beings. While variations exist within a species, such as different breeds of horses or cattle, these do not indicate a diversity of species but rather variations within established limits [5]. This understanding of fixed natural boundaries contrasts with theories like "natural selection," which propose that species evolve through a "struggle for life" where "fittest survive" by transmitting accidental variations [2].
In Jewish thought, Maimonides' Mishneh Torah discusses boundaries in the context of human character traits. He posits that between any two extreme traits, such as stinginess and generosity, there exists a spectrum of intermediate points [4]. Each point on this "imaginary line" is distinct, representing a specific degree of a trait. This framework encourages individuals to find a balanced, moderate path rather than veering to either extreme. The "Lechem Mishneh" commentary clarifies this by illustrating how individuals can tend towards one extreme or the other while still remaining within an intermediate range [4]. This concept of distinct, yet interconnected, points along a spectrum implies a kind of boundary-setting in ethical and moral development, where individuals are encouraged to cultivate virtues by avoiding extremes and seeking a balanced middle ground.
Sources
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 2, section 20: § 3. Application of these Criteria to Man . When we come to apply these several criteria to the human race, it is found beyond dispute that they all concur in proving that the whole human family are of one and the same species. In the first place the corporeal frame or external structure is the same in all the varieties of the race. There is the same number of bones in the skeleton; their arrangement and disposition are the same. There is the same distribution of the blood-vessels. The brain, the spinal marrow, and the nervous system are ”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 2, section 5: advantageously to exercise its functions. 14 Third, that as plants and animals increase in a geometrical ratio, they tend to outrun enormously the means of support, and this of necessity gives rise to a continued and universal struggle for life. Fourth, in this struggle the fittest survive; that is, those individuals which have an accidental variation of structure which renders them superior to their fellows in the struggle for existence, survive, and transmit that peculiarity to their offspring. This is “natural selection;” i.e ., nature,”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 2, section 19: varied purposes. Hence the genera and the species of animals belonging to the different departments, classes, orders, and families into which the animal kingdom is divided, are exceedingly numerous, and each has its distinctive corporeal organization indicative of the specific end it is intended to subserve. So minute, and so fixed is the plan on which each species of animal is constructed, that a skilful naturalist, from the examination of a single bone, can tell not only the family, or genus, but the very species to which it belongs. Ag”
- Mishneh Torah (Maimonides) (Jewish (Rabbinic)) “Mishneh Torah (Maimonides), Mishneh Torah%2C Human Dispositions 1:2: Between each trait and the [contrasting] trait at the other extreme, there are intermediate points, each distant from the other. 1 The Lechem Mishneh understands this as follows: Let us imagine a line drawn from one extreme to another - between the stingy and the freehanded, for example. All who are neither stingy nor freehanded stand between them. They are all intermediate, whether they tend towards stinginess or freehandedness. Each point along this imaginary line stands apart - "is distant" - from the others on that line. ”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 2, section 19: perpetuated; as is seen in the different breeds of horses, cattle, and sheep found even in so restricted a field of operation as Great Britain. It is certain, therefore, that no diversity of an external or material character, not indicative of diversity of design, plan, and intention can properly be assumed as indicative of diversity of species. The presence of a skin connecting the toes or claws of a bird, is in itself a comparatively small affair. It is insignificant as to the amount of material expended, and as to the effect on the gen”