Ancient Judaism (book)
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(publ. Free Press)
Ancient Judaism (
It was his fourth and last major work on the
Weber wrote that
Anyone who is heir to traditions of modern European civilization will approach problems of universal history with a set of questions, which to him appear both inevitable and legitimate. These questions will turn on the combination of circumstances which has brought about the cultural phenomena that are uniquely Western and that have at the same time (...) a universal cultural significance[1]
Weber notes that Judaism not only
Types of asceticism and the significance of ancient Judaism
Weber noted that some aspects of Christianity sought to conquer and change the world, instead of withdrawing from its imperfections. This fundamental distinctiveness of Christianity (when compared to
For the Jew (...) the social order of the world was conceived to have been turned into the opposite of the one promised for the future, but in the future it was to be overturned so that Jewry could be once again dominant. The world was conceived as neither eternal nor unchangeable, but rather as being created. Its present structure was a product of man's actions, above all those of the Jews, and of God's reaction to them. Hence the world was a historical product designed to give way to the truly God-ordained order [...] There existed in addition a highly rational religious ethic of social conduct; it was free of magic and all forms of irrational quest for salvation; it was inwardly worlds apart from the path of salvation offered by Asiatic religions. To a large extent this ethic still underlies contemporary Middle Eastern and European ethics. World-historical interest in Jewry rests upon this fact. [...] Thus, in considering the conditions of Jewry's evolution, we stand at a turning point of the whole cultural development of the West and the Middle East[2]
History and social organization of Ancient Israel
Weber analysed the interaction between the
Those periods were significant for religious history, as the basic doctrines of Judaism that left their mark on Western civilisation arose during those times.[3]
Reinhard Bendix summarising Weber's work writes:
...free of magic and esoteric speculations, devoted to the study of law, vigiliant in the effort to do what was right in the eyes of the Lord in the hope of a better future, the prophets established a religion of faith that subjected man's daily life to the imperatives of a divinely ordained moral law. In this way, ancient Judaism helped create the moral rationalism of Western civilisation[4]
See also
- Max Weber § External links for websites containing online works of Max Weber.
Citations
- ^ a b c Bendix 1977, p. 200.
- ^ Bendix 1977, p. 204.
- ^ a b Bendix 1977, p. 213.
- ^ Bendix 1977, p. 256.
References
- Bendix, Reinhard (1977) [1960]. Max Weber: An intellectual portrait. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-03503-4.
Further reading
- ISBN 0-02-934130-2
- ISBN 0-7456-0297-5
- Oxford Centre for Postgraduate Hebrew Studies, 1981.
- Efraim Shmueli, The "Pariah People" and its "Charismatic Leadership"—A Reevaluation of Max Weber's "Ancient Judaism", Proceedings of the American Academy of Jewish Research New York, 1968, 167-247.