The Good Samaritan. Familiar story. One researcher found in a survey that 49% of the people interviewed said they would be able to tell the story of the Good Samaritan if asked to do so, 45% said they would not be able to, and 6% were unsure whether they could tell it or not. Among those who attended religious services every week, the proportion who thought they could tell the story rose to 69% percent.(1)

But whether or not one could accurately retell this parable, the concept of the "Good Samaritan" is familiar enough to everyone. We name hospitals, churches, institutions of mercy, even legislation in his honor. Several years ago, seventy-five million of us watched the last episode of Seinfeld. The focus of that show was that the four cast regulars, having been stopped accidentally in a…