Original Research

Ancient Egyptian Ma‘at or Old Testament deed-consequence nexus as predecessors of ubuntu?

Gerlinde Baumann
Verbum et Ecclesia | Vol 36, No 2 | a1429 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/ve.v36i2.1429 | © 2015 Gerlinde Baumann | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 18 February 2015 | Published: 19 June 2015

About the author(s)

Gerlinde Baumann, Altes Testament, Evangelische Theologie, Philipps-Universit, Germany

Abstract

The Ancient Egyptian concept of Ma‘at shows some analogies to the concept of ubuntu. Both concepts seem to presuppose that people in a given society are willing to act for each other. In Bible exegesis, the concept of Ma‘at has attracted interest in connection with the Old Testament deed-consequence nexus (i.e. good consequences follow good deeds). The article looks at significant parallels between ubuntu, Ma‘at and the deed-consequence nexus. Its aim is to outline questions that have been discussed in the context of those two ancient concepts and that could be helpful for future research on ubuntu.

Keywords

Ma'at; Deed-Consequence Nexus; Ubuntu

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