Another great, thought provoking book by Cahill. A lot of this material I had some knowledge of due to a wonderful history professor that I had, but to hear it once more in a more fleshed out way was wonderfully refreshing. Once again it's obvious that Cahill has done his homework and written a tight, well-woven narrative. ( )

In this bestselling book, Cahill sets out to show that the world we live in and everything we do and think, is purportedly a result of the Jewish "revolution" in history. The concepts expounded in the Bible were a dramatic break from the ancient religions and philosophies, that viewed the world as an endless cycle of birth and death in which human beings had no control over their lives. The Jews broke this way of thinking by defining time as continuous, as moving towards a better future through the decisions of men and women living here and now, in the present. Were it not for the Jews, argues Cahill, the world as we know it would not have come to be; we would have been unable to grasp concepts such as history, future, freedom, faith, hope, individual, justice and pretty much everything else.

What a wonderful theory and, as a Jew, I'm obviously all for it. But unfortunately Cahill devotes most of the book not to providing evidence to support this theory, but rather to a recounting of the major stories of the Bible from his perspective. The few profound points he makes about the contribution of the Jews to the world are lost in the endless quotes from the Bible and in Cahill's somewhat simplistic theories about what really happened. For example, do we really need to know that he believes the Red Sea was a marsh and not a sea, or that the Manna the Israelites ate in the desert was most likely some white plant secretion? Such details are numerous and do not contribute to the main idea offered by the author.

Cahill does not come through as a particularly believing person and he certainly does not view the Bible as the word of God. Therefore, it is interesting that he uses the following definition for the existence of God:

...the Jews developed a whole new way of experiencing reality, the only alternative to all ancient worldviews and all ancient religions. If one is ever to find the finger of God in human affairs, one must find it here. (p. 246)

I wonder if Cahill was aware that this very definition was given by Benjamin Disraeli, Prime Minister of Britain. When asked by Queen Victoria if he can provide proof that God exists, Disraeli (born Jewish himself) thought for a moment and replied: "The Jews, your Majesty".

As a believing Jew I particularly liked the way Cahill defines how each and every one of us hears the Voice of God:

Each reader must decide if the Voice that spoke to the patriarchs and prophets speaks to him, too. If it does, there is no question of needing proof, any more than we require proof of anyone we believe in... one does not believe that God exists, as one believes that Timbuktu or the constellation Andromeda exists. One believes in God, as one believes in a friend - or one believes nothing." (p.250) ( )

Outstanding thesis on the cyclical pagan beliefs and the progressive, progressing God of the Jews. I enjoyed reading this and will read it again ( )

I love Cahill's books for poetry and imagery. There is no reference to Zoroastrianism nor the Hellenistic influence on culture in general in the classical age. Without this discussion, I can't tell if the central theme of the book about time, or journey is truly valid. What I know about Zoroastrian astrology tells me the ancients understood perfectly well the passage of time and
ages of man, and they were aware of Vedic astrology and philosophy which tells us today about the Age of Aquarius and all the change that entails from the Age of Pisces. Other writers claim that it was Vedic beliefs that informed Abraham.

I wonder if this book is really a complete story or a romantic tale. He has no dates in the story, which I guess means it is supposed to be taken at face value. Despite all of this, I can definitely believe much of that ancient forbidden knowledge was preserved for us by Kabbalah and the Zohar, which is fortunately findings its way to us again through Buddhism and Vedic practice too, but he doesn't talk about either.

It is great as a romantic tale, but I just want to know. If the idea of Abraham originating the notion of 'journey' is true, the book doesn't explain how Siddharta would have learned that from circa 450BC or Homer at 850BC during the Babylonian diaspora, and once again there is no discussion of any Zoroastrian or Greek literature that could put it into context. I also wonder if the simplicity of the religious life in Sumer is over done. I have read amazing things about Zoroastrianism in the land of Ur and Sumer and the amazing knowledge they had of the planets and stars which is the precursor to mathematical science in the Persian and Arabic worlds, which certainly also transformed our world in ways that the Romanized/Hellenized/Judaized world never would have, and which is sorely under recognized today.

What is the relationship here to the Hebrew time in Egypt? Freud contended that Atenism was invented by Egyptians and Moses learned that there, and had his encounter with the burning bush, and the books themselves about Abraham were written much later after a national tale was formed in Solomon's time.

Do I have to read the next book about the Greeks to get the complete picture? Is there one about Egyptians? (Boy this is a racket with Nan Talese isn't it?)

Other books I've read also say that Judaism was transformed by the return of the diaspora to Babylon and Cyrus II and influence there by Zoroastrianism turning it from a desert mountain animal sacrificial cult into one of urban community more closely resembling Talmudic Judaism and philosophic scholarship like it is today. And, for a long time, the Zoroastrians considered First and Second Temple Judaism to be a branch of their own faith and culture, and even contributed to putting the Second Temple back together when Judea was part of the Persian Cosmopolis and Jews were much in favour as part of that fascinating society before Alexandre the Great or Roman annexation. Certainly, writings from Alexandre's time show more fascination with things Persian and Vedic than anything they found on the way in Judea.

None of this finds its way into Cahill's book, which makes me wonder how complete it is and how far I can take his claims.

His book about Jesus is also very simplistic and doesn't mention too much about the Essenes and other Zoroastrian movements known there during that period post-Qumran, much about the Aprocrypha or Gnostic Gospels nor about competing scholars' views about who Jesus really was (or were) and the complex politics at that time of the Roman empire when Celtic tribes were wacking at the Northwest and Judeans were rebelling in the East and the whole Judeo/Christian narrative was shaped by Emperors and Generals and Councils of house church leaders around Byzantium and Rome (not Rabbis and Temple Castes who were conspicuously thrown out and vilified by that time).

His books are poetic (and I guess quite Orthodox shades of Joseph Ratzinger which surprises me and I know he wrote it ten years ago), but I doubt their completeness at this point. They are fun to read with the proverbial 'grain of salt'. Fortunately, there are new books and scholarship post-Qumran coming out all the time about this fascinating subject.

In terms of his essential question "where are the Assyrians today?" Well, I know one, an Orthodox Christian Iranian. Language alive and well and still spoken at home in a diaspora family. Interesting possibility that converting to Christianity actually may have saved ancient peoples from annihilating each other and themselves in their violent pagan and feudal wars. That certainly wouldn't have been possible alone through Judaism which was then and maybe is now again a competing nationalist, rather than universalist movement, which like all the others stirs up ire amongst competing groups while according certain benefits to itself. ( )