The Great Foundational Idea: How Israel Invented Western Civilization

Israel's religion is typically presented as based on: - monotheism: a single, transcendent, exclusive deity- a covenant: a legal and moral contract between that deity and the people Israel- the prohibition of idols (aniconism): the prohibition of images is unique in the ancient Levant and Mesopotamia- the replacement of ritual with a book (Torah, Pentateuch, the Bible); in Deuteronomy, this book is presented as "embodying the contract"Israel and her religion stand on none of these. Each of these came centuries after Israel's founding. While these ideas may have been known by the contemporary religious elites, for ordinary Israelites they are unknown until after, often well after, the Babylonian exile. No, Israel had a new and revolutionary idea, an idea without precedent in the ancient world. Israel's Prophets began to promulgate that idea soon after Israel's monarchy was established. This "Great Foundational Idea" preceded (and provided the foundation for) monotheism, covenants/Torah and aniconism. This Great Foundational Idea was a single idea that drove Israel's evolution. It represents a radical change in Israelite self-image. That identity was not defined by a specific plot of land, despite the role the land-promise plays in the Bible. It was not defined by its monarch like most ancient civilizations, despite what later writers say about David and Solomon. It was not defined by its syncretistic (inherited) cult, despite the amount of text devoted to it. >Israel's Great Foundational Idea created an entirely new conception of society. It made no structural changes to its syncretistic cult. Israel's revolution was metaphysical, a new vision of what society should be and why it should be that way. >This investigation seeks what that Great Foundational Idea is and how it manifests in Israel's texts and history. It seeks to highlight the Idea's place in Western Civilization despite how the Idea has been most honored in the breach and rarely in the observance.

Pagina's: 83, Paperback, Independently published