2 options
The gifts of the Jews : how a tribe of desert nomads changed the way everyone thinks and feels / Thomas Cahill.
Sample text Available online
View onlineHistorical Society of Pennsylvania - Closed Stacks JGSP BM 165 .C25 1998
Available in person
Request an item
Access options
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Cahill, Thomas.
- Series:
- Cahill, Thomas. Hinges of history ; v. 2.
- The hinges of history ; v. 2
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Bible. Old Testament--History of Biblical events.
- Bible.
- Judaism--History--To 70 A.D.
- Judaism.
- Jews--History--To 70 A.D.
- Jews.
- Civilization--Jewish influences.
- Civilization.
- Bible. Old Testament.
- History of Biblical events.
- Bible--History of Biblical events.
- Genre:
- History.
- Physical Description:
- xii, 291 pages : maps ; 22 cm
- Edition:
- 1st ed.
- Place of Publication:
- New York : Nan A. Talese, ©1998.
- Summary:
- The Gifts of the Jews reveals the critical change that made western civilization possible. Within the matrix of ancient religions and philosophies, life was seen as part of an endless cycle of birth and death; time was like a wheel, spinning ceaselessly. Yet somehow, the ancient Jews began to see time differently. For them, time had a beginning and an end; it was a narrative, whose triumphant conclusion would come in the future. From this insight came a new conception of men and women as individuals with unique destinies--a conception that would inform the Declaration of Independence--and our hopeful belief in progress and the sense that tomorrow can be better than today. 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.
- Contents:
- Introduction : the Jews are it
- The temple in the moonlight : the primeval religious experience
- The journey in the dark: the unaccountable innovation
- Egypt : from slavery to freedom
- Sinai : from death to life
- Canaan : from tribe to nation
- Babylon : from many to one
- From then till now : the Jews are still it
- Notes and sources
- The books of the Hebrew bible
- Chronology
- Acknowledgments
- Index of Biblical citations
- General index.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 253-265) and indexes.
- ISBN:
- 0385482485
- 9780385482486
- 0385482493
- 9780385482493
- 074595040X
- 9780745950402
- OCLC:
- 37928517
- Publisher Number:
- 9780385482486 52495
- Online:
- Contributor biographical information
- Publisher description
The Penn Libraries is committed to describing library materials using current, accurate, and responsible language. If you discover outdated or inaccurate language, please fill out this feedback form to report it and suggest alternative language.