In the beginning ...

Thomas Cahill's second outing as author of the hinge-stories is a worthy follow-up, if a bit more simplistic. This book was a very easy read for me, both, in happy and in style, and I think the general reader will enjoy this book, too. I am used to, in my seminary training, to weighty tomes HAVING to journey through - This was a refreshing walk in a park.
Unlike previous His Irish about the subject, this book covers a subject is qui Almost Everyone has an opinion, so Cahill's interpretations on the Hebrew Scriptures and history (Old Testament times) will undoubtedly not Satisfy everyone. He Does a very good job, though, of steering clear of interpretive controversies.
He presents this history as a history of what is significant in ict legacy for us - '? Were thesis really the first monotheists' no sense in asking Questions Such As & C., Because It is a fact That our cultural tendency Toward monotheism in the West derived from this band of people. This is the people from Whom much of our Western sensibility is derived.
'This gift of the Commandments Allows us to live in the present, in the here and now. What I have done in the past is past mending; what I will do in the future is a worry not worth a candle, for there is no way I can know what will happen next. Purpose in this moment - and only in htis time - I am in control '.
The very idea of ​​règlements, justice, and communal living (beyond the whims of The Powerful), and of self-discipline exerted From Within, Rather than from without, in our society Largely derived from thesis writings. Again, it is not worth haggling over Earliest Who Had the codification of règlements and civil laws - those About did not get handed down to us as a living, working text. These texts Were, in Many respects, Informing the texts behind much of Western civilization.
He covers the history well, neither discounting Biblical authority nor the seeming contradictions in Assuming That is archaeological evidence Either right or wrong.
Cahill begins with the pre-history of the Jews, talking about the societal, political and geographic realities That Would Have Influenced the ancient Sumerian named Avram, Who set out for the land of Canaan. Cahill examined the period in Egypt as being white pivotal for societal development, the era of the judges and kings have experimentations with polity, and the period diasporic identity as one of deepening in the face of massive external pressure and, in the end, threat of extermination .
This book is a good sequel, work and significant year for the non-historian and theologian into non-Some aspects of the history of the Jews That Often Overlooked Otherwise are.
'The Jews gave us the Outlook and the Inside - our outlook and our inner life. We Can Hardly get up in the morning or cross the street without being white Jewish. We dream Jewish dreams and hope Jewish hopes. Most of our best words, in fact - new, adventure, surprise; unique, individual, person, vocation; time, history, future; freedom, progress, spirit; faith, hope, justice - are the gifts of the Jews. '