In Judeo-Christian cultures, a “Good Samaritan” is a person who does a kind deed, often at expense or risk to their self. The name comes from the Bible - specifically, Jesus’ parable about, well, a Good Samaritan.
In non-Judeo-Christian cultures, what term describes such a person?
Make that “Christian” cultures. The story of the Good Samaritan is in the New Testament, not the Old.
The original point of the Good Samaritan story is not understood by most people today because they don’t understand the historical context. In Jesus’ time, there was intense hatred between the Jews and the Samaritans. There had been centuries of animosity and conflict between the two cultures, since the Jews returned from the Babylonian exile and reoccupied the land now belonging to the Samaritans, who practiced a different religion (sound familiar?). The phrase “good Samaritan” is so common today that people tend to associate the words and assume that Samaritans were sort of naturally good. But to Jews in Jesus’ time, Samaritans were naturally bad people, and the story of a Samaritan helping a Jew would be like a modern story of a Palestinian terrorist helping a Jew. A similar story in a non-Christian culture would need to retain the idea that the two people involved were from traditionally antagonistic groups.
In a theological context, yes. In a linguistic context, the term “Good Samaritan” has been so diluted that it simply means “one who does a good deed.” It’s that diluted definition that I’m looking for an equivalent for.
A dramatic reinaction of the parable.
I call this person…a first responder…a volunteer…a good neighbor…a great human being…someone not taking up space, breathing good air and spewing hate!!!
It would have to be a non-English speaking and non Christian culture. You are unlikely to find anyone here.
We have Dopers from all over the world here.
A mensch.
Not many are non-English speaking.
Here’s a relevant Hadith.
In Chinese, you might say 厚道的人 which is a kind person.
Hmm… Confucius was on about 仁人, which is a famous concept just like the Parable of the Good Samaritan is famous. Both the 仁人 and the Good Samaritan have their own particular nuances and subtle interpretations that go beyond generic goodness, as has been noted.
More Biblically but less Christian, in Hebrew there is the concept of a חָסִיד , which seems apt as far as benevolently helping others.
I am not fully aware of the Good Samaritan legend, but there are many such parallels in Hindu mythology and history. Some are:
Raja Harishchandra - the adherer to truth. A person is often chided as being “a Raja Harishchandra”, if he tries to cling to truth even to the detriment of those related to him. Harishchandra - Wikipedia
Dani Karna - The great donation giver - who never refused anyone who begged for anything belonging to him. Karna - Wikipedia
Emperor Ashoka - for his benevolence
“Back where I come from there are men who do nothing all day but good deeds. They are called phila… er, phila… er, yes, er, Good Deed Doers.”
– Wizard of Oz
As soon as you start talking about the Jesus parts of the Bible, you can drop the “Judeo-” part.
Karna is a type of good Samaritan, but the concept is much wider than simply charitable giving. ‘Good Samaritan’ basically means an ordinary person who helps others for no personal gain. There is a strong implication that the Samaritan is motivated solely by compassion, empathy, and/or propriety (‘the right thing to do’).
Nitpick: Isn’t “Samaritan” sort of a corrupted word? Shouldn’t it really be Samarian? They were people of Samaria.
Parable, not legend; the Good Samaritan isn’t suppossed to have been a real person, whereas the people in legends are. A parable is a story with the purpose of explaining a concept; first you get the little story, then the explanation. Similar to a fable, but these tend to feature anthropophormized animals or plants, which parables don’t; if a parable includes an animal or plant it’s doing whatever they would normally do, not saying “bah, those grapes (I can’t reach) are green anyway”.
Talking of fables and cute animals, does the lion and the mouse count?