The Jews just like all peoples were both exceedingly special and exceedingly ordinary--it was their amazing God of love that was so extraordinary! It was in the way God called one people that he could show the rest of the world a new way of living and loving. I could see in this book that from the time God called Abraham out of Ur he was gently and patiently leading him into an understanding of the true God of compassion in ways that honored Abraham's background and the cultural outlook of his people of origin.
Feb 02, Renee rated it it was amazing Shelves: history-adult. Read this while flying across the continent on a recent trip. I love books that put the Bible stories I grew up with in context. Having read the Bible since I was a child I have often applied my own western worldview to understanding the scriptures - no wonder I end up confused at times!
May 02, Kathleen rated it liked it Shelves: history-quasi. This is book 2 in the Hinges of History series. In The Gift of the Jews, Cahill argues that the Hebrew people introduced critically important concepts to Western Civilization -- and eventually to the world.
The "gifts" include the ten commandments, still reflected in legal codes today, hygiene, the written word along with Phonecians, Greeks, Sumarians, etc , monotheism, and caring for widows and orphans via a tithing system -- much like paying taxes. He also claims that the introduction of mon This is book 2 in the Hinges of History series.
He also claims that the introduction of monotheism helped bring an end to human sacrifice in some other cultures. That's all I remember. Cahill may be overblown and off base at times, but he increased my interest in history. I have read the first four books in the Hinges of History series, starting book 1 almost 20 years ago, so my memory is not bright. However, the books stuck with me fairly well. Kudos to the author for that. Since then, Cahill wrote two more books, but I have not read them.
This is quasi-history told in a fairly accessible narrative style -- if at times meandering. Cahill is not a historian, per se, but his education reflects an interest in history, theology, classic texts, and performing arts. Each book examines how a particular European people changed the world alas, no gifts mentioned from Asia and Africa.
The four cultures one per book : Irish, Jewish, Christian of mixed ethnicity , and Greek. I enjoyed them all but am not a historian, so cannot adequately argue Cahill's points. He probably stretched the "story" to make a strong case for the particular "gifts" he suggests the culture brought to the world, but I always read history through a strainer.
I cannot recall whether Cahill included the contributions women made. I think not. It's set primarily in the Dark Ages, after Rome fell, when Visigoths, Goths, and Vandals plundered, burning books, libraries, monasteries, etc. I found some bits riveting, but doubtless there are holes in the author's argument that Irish monks "saved civilization" by saving various classic texts from extinction.
They did this by copying and illustrating ancient Greek and Latin writings Ptolmy, Euclid, Cicero, Plato, etc , as well as ancient scrolls and scriptures. I was rather captivated by these industrious monks, safe from invaders across the Irish Sea, scribbling away in their beehives, creating illuminated manuscripts.
However, I felt Cahill overplayed his hand, making more of his grand theory than history warrants, and his own Irish ancestry may have led him to wax poetic, suggesting bias. I was also interested in the descriptions of Augustine and St. Patrick, even though Cahill admittedly embellished what little we know about Patrick. Cahill describes how the message of Christ changed civilization. He attributes to Christ and to Christians the gradual propagation of widespread principles of mercy, forgiveness, eleventh-hour second chances, and unconditional love opposed to the eye-for-an-eye system of retribution encoded in Hamurabi's Code used by ancient Babylonians, and by the Hebrew people, the Romans, etc.
Cahill also attributes to Christianity the transformation of cultures that had engaged in human sacrifice, as well as the spread of literacy, eventually enabling commoners to read sacred scripts. He was a little scattered in his arguments. It felt at times weak, yet he makes some good points. However, he made slight mention of the atrocities perpetrated by the Spanish Inquisition. I was anticipating a rich account of who the Greeks were and how much they influenced modern civilization, but in that sense, it fell short of expectation.
However, I was intrigued by the notion of the Greeks as intellectual scavengers, sailing the Mediterranean to various ports and bringing the best ideas and inventions from culture and language to art and science back to Athens and integrating them into their culture. Eventually, these ideas trickled or gushed into other cultures, and remain part of civilization today. View 2 comments. I was Instead, I thought it was slow moving, difficult to pay attention to, and overall bland.
I'm pretty familiar with the Bible, so a fair portion of the book just seemed to b I was I'm pretty familiar with the Bible, so a fair portion of the book just seemed to be a rehashing of Bible stories without much additional writing. Many of the attributions to the Jews really belong to the early cultures that were the precursors of both Jews and Christians alike.
I wanted to see more historical fact and documentation and less dependence on the Bible text itself. I was hoping for a fact-based telling of the story of the Jews, and ideally one that involved a more in depth picture than the one already available to anyone who has read the Bible. I did end up finishing the book, but it took me a long time to do so because it just couldn't keep my interest Jun 01, Susan rated it did not like it.
This book was pretty disappointing. I thought he was going to explore all kinds of contributions the Jews have made to Western culture, but he only focused on their trajectory of time and their emphasis on the value of the individual.
Everything else was his own retelling of the Bible, complete with the typical scholarly skepticism. He did seem to believe in G-d, but it was basically G-d according to a Jewish humanist. Ultimately, Cahill looks at the religious traditions of the ancient Near East and finds that they all saw the world in a cyclical manner, best represented by the moon. Like the moon, or the seasons, time passes but there is no "progress" to time. Cahill then argues that it was the Jews who were the first to break out of this cyclical universe and develop the "arrow of time," as we might call it today.
Quite frankly, this argument is unconvincing. Although it is true that progressive time can be s Ultimately, Cahill looks at the religious traditions of the ancient Near East and finds that they all saw the world in a cyclical manner, best represented by the moon. Although it is true that progressive time can be seen in the Hebrew Bible, it seems more likely that all cultures have had a mix of cyclical understandings of time, as well as progressive time.
This is certainly true today, as best represented by the axiom, "history repeats itself. As such, it seems that Cahill's argument is tenable if the worldviews of peoples are simplified excessively, but there is more nuance to the way people think that is missed by Cahill. Feb 27, Carol rated it did not like it Shelves: did-not-finish. Unfortunately, in this book his atheism came through loud and clear from the very beginning. I made it through the first 2 chapters, then looked ahead and saw that his "religion is a fantasy, invented by men" attitude persevered through the book.
So I am not going to waste any more time reading it. In "How the Irish Saved Civilization" his atheism was not blatant - in fact, that story was, for me, a testimony of God's hand in preserving the Gospel of Jesus Christ in spite of apostasy in the "orthodox" church and conquest by barbarians. Jul 07, Linda rated it really liked it Shelves: history , nonfiction , ancient-world , israel , religion , jewish.
I really liked the book. Cahill does an excellent job of placing familiar biblical stories in historical context and explaining their role in the evolution of theological thought.
He is an engaging writer with a real passion for his subject. The book is both scholarly and accessible. It is the second book in his Hinges of History series. I look forward to reading the next installment. This is an interesting book that explains how the worldview of the ancient Jews was especially unique when compared to their contemporaries.
Without this unique culture of the Jews, Cahill argues, our tendency to This is an interesting book that explains how the worldview of the ancient Jews was especially unique when compared to their contemporaries. Without this unique culture of the Jews, Cahill argues, our tendency towards individualism would be unheard of. The Gifts of the Jews is full of interesting perspective on some of the most important stories of the Tanakh, such as those of Avraham, Moshe, Ruth, David, Solomon, and Elijah.
A few of my favorites Daniel, as well as his three friends, and Esther are left out, but the book is only so long. Cahill does a good job at pointing out the terrible nature of YHWH. For one, he is the God of the Jews.
He is not cute or cuddly, and he deals with sin severely. One cannot assume that such slaughters are outside the nature of a God who demands bloody sacrifice in atonement for sin, which is the very basis of Christianity. I would question the humanity of such a person, as this is a grave and severe matter, just like most of the Bible and the revealed nature of God himself.
However, many Christians believe that these incidents happened, that they took place by the order of YHWH, that the same is the God they still serve, and that they can only view God is a less brutal light because they themselves will not half to pay the hefty penalty for sin. I am currently of the belief that the image of a super-friendly God, which seems to me to be propagated from modern Christianity too often, is a lie and that the acts of God that Cahill wants us to reject are the ones that we must bring ourselves to accept, whether it comes easily or not.
Over the course of less than pages and the scope of two millennia of Jewish history from its birth with Abraham to their return from exile, Cahill examines the evolving birth of a new worldview that was entirely different from what had been thought before. For example some of the evidence Cahill uses to date the Exodus is erroneous by misinterpretation of both Biblical and non-Biblical sources, yet that is only of several examples I could have given.
Because of that, The Gifts of the Jews is worth a close read as it describes the first and most significant hinge of historical change. I've read this book before and decided it was worth listening to during a road trip over the past few days.
What I liked best about it this time around was the narrator, whose name is Richard M. If you write a book, I highly recommend you hire him to do the audio version. I especially liked his reading of the passages that came directly from Scripture. It makes me wish he had a recording out of the entire Bible.
I wonder how he would do with that massive list of names in 1 Chronicles. As I've read this book before and decided it was worth listening to during a road trip over the past few days.
As for the content I'm going to be somewhat more critical, so I want to begin by saying that there's a lot of interesting material here. I found it worthwhile listening and reading before, I think, although I didn't remember it very well , and I think Christians, Jews, Muslims and nonbelievers with an interest in ancient history would also find it interesting. Toward the end of the book, Thomas Cahill writes that "we" can no longer believe everything we read in the Bible; indeed "we" would not want to believe in God as depicted in some passages of the Bible.
I'll gladly admit that there are things about God that I discover in the Bible that I find perplexing and even disturbing.
But I didn't realize the question of God was multiple choice, that we get to choose which sort of God we want to believe in. I don't include myself in Mr. Cahill's "we. Apparently, "we" find Genesis 19 to be inconvenient. As a Christian, Jewish history and culture has been of much interest to me, as Christianity grew out of that culture. Thomas Cahill's premise is that in other ancient religions, life was seen as an endless cycle. But with the birth of what became the Jewish religion, time becomes linear and through Abraham the individual interaction between human and the divine becomes personal.
Cahill set the As a Christian, Jewish history and culture has been of much interest to me, as Christianity grew out of that culture. Cahill set the stage for this beginning by going in depth about the Sumerian world-- their religions and writings. It is interesting to learn about these ancient forbearers, but my eyes began to glaze a little with so many pages devoted to the "Epic of Gilgamesh. Of course, this refers to what Christians call the Old Testament.
Cahill presents interesting interpretations of all the books of the Hebrew Bible and what concurrent events of the Hebrews influence the writings. I think a person would gain more from this book if they had at least a speaking acquaintance with the Bible.
On the other hand, it could serve as a good introduction for someone wanting more familiarity with the Bible. Jun 15, Donald Owens II rated it it was ok. Rated solely on how interestingly Cahill writes, I would give it a five. This is a very enjoyable read, and may be beneficial to discerning lovers of our story who are able to eat the fish and spit out the bones. However, Thomas Cahill is thoroughly beholden to our current zeitgeist of secularism, and exhibits all the snobbery of a faithful worshipper of the gods of 'scientism' and 'scholarism'.
Because of this, his highest standard for judging historical accuracy was the secular sensibilities of Rated solely on how interestingly Cahill writes, I would give it a five. Because of this, his highest standard for judging historical accuracy was the secular sensibilities of the modern; i.
Like Jefferson, every time the evidence pointed to a conclusion that conflicted with political correctness or suggested the supernatural, voila! Frankly, the predictability and childishness of it would have been funny if it hadn't been so frustrating. Jan 28, Brook rated it liked it. This actually corrected some of the real-life history of the Israelites Hebrews, 12 Tribes that I learned with newer data. IT also provides additional insight into why the region is as it is today.
Overall I recommend this highly as a layman's read on the more ancient history of the people that today ca This actually corrected some of the real-life history of the Israelites Hebrews, 12 Tribes that I learned with newer data. Overall I recommend this highly as a layman's read on the more ancient history of the people that today call themselves Jews.
I personally wish it had been a longer, more in-depth book, more scholarly, but it reads well as light reading. Oct 25, Graham rated it did not like it. I just finished the Gifts of the Jews, and despite its good reviews I am very disappointed. On page Thomas Cahill, the author, lists what he considers are the gift of the Jews, yet for the previous pages all he has done is retell the stories from the first six books or so of the Old Testament.
His assertions are not supported by anything he has previously written. It looks like he got tired of writing and wrote a conclusion with no supporting evidence. Apr 20, Jann rated it it was amazing.
Faith, hope, imagination, determination - Cahill claims these are some of the gifts of the Jews. I really like these Hinges of History books. They are short, informative and engagingly written. I feel like we are definitely getting a lot of Cahill's opinion, but it helps me form my own opinions too.
History is too dry without opinion and almost non-existent without conjecture. Recommend: adult Faith, hope, imagination, determination - Cahill claims these are some of the gifts of the Jews. Recommend: adult I read this book for Jewish History Month This book rocks my world.
Cahill argues that to be Western means to be Jewish at basic levels of our shared worldview. Thomas Cahill writes for those of us in Western World. Others played parts, but these four allowed a human existence to unfold. I borrowed this book from the library. I will be buying a copy I read this book for Jewish History Month I will be buying a copy.
I need this book to be available Every time I read the Old Testament and when I read other ancient works. For those of us familiar with the Genesis, there is no difficulty in reading this book. Jul 25, Noah rated it it was amazing. Apr 19, mehg-hen rated it liked it Shelves: educationalnerdoutmaterial , holier-than-thou , history. Not quite as fascinating as "How the Irish Saved Civilization" which is good because I am about to become a social outcast nerd babbling about ancient Sumer in a corner.
As is, I just managed to babble about it on a subway platform, how odd that an ancient Sumerian God is always portrayed with a constant boner that ejaculates the Tigris. I know standard-issue, very vague things about the bible and the old testament so to me, this was a very interesting "ooooooh, okay, so that is the deal with Ab Not quite as fascinating as "How the Irish Saved Civilization" which is good because I am about to become a social outcast nerd babbling about ancient Sumer in a corner.
I know standard-issue, very vague things about the bible and the old testament so to me, this was a very interesting "ooooooh, okay, so that is the deal with Abraham. Cahill makes all of the old testament stories accessible and relatable so you really get the deal with everybody, including Moses which was Moishe, which is an Egyptian name. Interesting and crazy Pharaohs and how weirded out the supermodel King Saul was David came on the scene. The main point of the book is that Judaism gave us individuality and a sense of linear history for the first time ever.
Several academics have made beer according to their recipe. Obviously, this would be extremely interesting. Famous Oak Trees. Also, this is a pretty good quote from an ancient Sumerian myth: "an almost unimaginably terrifying creature whose face looks like coiled intestines. Honestly, you need to relax. Do you feel better now that you wasted all this time and effort trying to find me? Seriously, just go home, have a BBQ, talk to your wife and like, please, just don't do this again.
I guess everyone seriously loves Lebanon, but isn't like super talented when it comes to giving compliments: "your teeth are like a flock of shorn ewes that have come up from the washing, all of which bear twins, and not one among them has lost it's young. Sounds great. I have to go. Jan 29, Jeremy Randall rated it really liked it. This didn't go far enough. I was hoping for a story the continued through the ages, not a repeating of things I have already studied.
Cahill is a brilliant wordsmith. His sentences are like solid bass lines that allow your own thoughts to harmonise and think and understand. Jews are great. And it is a great look at how their ancient history chronicled a tribes interaction with a certain way of seeing things. I was hoping this was going to be a great as the earlier book from the same author: How the Irish Saved Civilization.
The premise of this book is interesting. The author points out that ancient civilization viewed time as a wheel. As Thomas Cahill narrates this momentous shift, he also explains the real significance of such Biblical figures as Abraham and Sarah, Moses and the Pharaoh, Joshua, Isaiah, and Jeremiah.
Full of compelling stories, insights and humor, The Gifts of the Jews is an irresistible exploration of history as fascinating and fun as How the Irish Saved Civilization.
The Jews started it all--and by "it" I mean so many of the things we care about, the underlying values that make all of us, Jew and gentile, believer and atheist, tick. Without the Jews, we would see the world through different eyes, hear with different ears, even feel with different feelings. And not only would our sensorium, the screen through which we receive the world, be different: we would think with a different mind, interpret all our experience differently, draw different conclusions from the things that befall us.
And we would set a different course for our lives. By "we" I mean the usual "we" of late-twentieth century writing: the people of the Western world, whose peculiar but vital mentality has come to infect every culture on earth, so that, in a startlingly precise sense, all humanity is now willy-nilly caught up in this "we.
Because of this, the role of the Jews, the inventors of Western Write your own review! The Collaborator of Bethlehem. About this book. More by this author. For decades, Omar Yussef has been a teacher of history to the children of Bethlehem. When a favorite former pupil is arrested for collaborating with the Israelis, Omar is sure he has been framed.
And, as no one else will, it is up to him to Following his 1 New York Times bestseller, Our Endangered Values , the former president, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, offers an assessment of what must be done to bring permanent peace to Israel with dignity and justice to Palestine.
A daring first novel—both buoyant comedy and devastating satire by the author of Say You're One of Them. Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes! Your guide to exceptional books. BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
Subscribe to receive some of our best reviews, "beyond the book" articles, book club info and giveaways by email. Write a Review. Book Summary An enchanting journey into history, recreating a time when the actions of a small band of people had repercussions that are still felt today. Read Full Excerpt. Please be aware that this discussion guide may contain spoilers! We normally think of history as one catastrophe after another, war followed by war, outrage by outrage--almost as if history were nothing more than all the narratives of human pain, assembled in sequence.
And surely this is, often enough, an adequate description. But history is also the narratives of grace, the recountings of those blessed and inexplicable moments when someone did something for someone else, saved a life, bestowed a gift, gave something beyond what was required by circumstance. In this series, The Hinges of History, I mean to retell the story of the Western world as the story of the great gift-givers, those who entrusted to our keeping one or another of the singular treasures that make up the patrimony of the West Read More.
More about membership!
0コメント