 "The Gift Cahill Refers To" | 2009-11-17 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2ASGI76PZ0T57 |
The gift of the Jews? It is the gift of an individual relationship with god.
Cahill points out that Abraham is the first character in written history who was just a regular guy--not a monarch or a favored noble. Cahill explores Abraham's personal relationship with god and presents it as a gift that all of us regular guys now have, thanks to the Jews. |
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 "Good biblical synopsis, but weak in the thesis" | 2009-09-27 |
| - Reviewed By jeanedouardpouliot |
In "The Gifts of the Jews," Cahill retells, in his own unique voice, the tales of three of the Bible's greatest heroes -- Abraham, Moses and David. His purpose is to show that these men were almost-singlehandedly responsible for breaking humankind's religious conception of life as a never-ending cycle, making it possible for humans to imagine, first the future, then progress -- a better future. Basing his conjectures rather solidly in archeology and biblical studies, Cahill sketches the religious view of early humans, whose changing and brutal life below was contrasted with the serene and never-changing sky above. This conception allowed humanity to imagine its own most noble elements in the sky, turning these eventually into gods. Cahill gives us an imaginative sketch of a moon cult of ancient Assyria, complete with nubile maids, sacrificial offerings and erotic ceremonial pairings to honor the goddess of fertility.
Along into this world of savage, cyclical ritual comes Abram, given a command to do something completely new and unexpected -- to leave the familiar and to strike out toward an uncertain destination. Cahill sees Abram (later Abraham) as the first human being to break out of the cycle of repetition, futility and fatedness. His was a God of surprises, about-faces and detours, not of regularity and rhythm.
For those unfamiliar with the Bible, Cahill's rendering is unpoetical yet vital. His sketches of the wily desert chieftain Abram, the tongue-tied, reluctant Moses and cockily self-assured David are wonderful antidotes to the tired pieties of Sunday school. If nothing else, Cahill has a gift for bringing alive ancient characters.
Where Cahill goes wrong, I think is in his thesis that before the Psalms of David, there was no conception of "I" in the human imagination. It is impossible from the distance of 4000 years to know exactly what was in anyone's mind. But to suggest that no human being before Abraham thought of his own feelings, ideas and surroundings seems ludicrous. Not to mention that Cahill made the same claim about 4th-century CE Augustine of Hippo in his book "How the Irish Saved Civilization."
The claim of the book's title -- that the Jews were responsible for the break from cyclical thinking is hardly demonstrated. It begs the question of how human progress before Abraham was possible, given the supposed human propensity to repetition. Surely someone invented the wheel, tamed fire and developed agriculture long before Abram's time. While the patriarch may well have set history on a new course, he didn't do it without some powerful antecedents.
Read "The Gift of the Jews" or its rugged, earthy depictions of biblical characters and history. Leave Cahill's more lofty and less likely conjectures along the side of the road. |
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 "Connecting the dots" | 2009-09-13 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1CRT93FYAWKRC |
When I initailly started reading Cahills book, The Gifts the Jews Gave Us, I thought it would re-cant all the different medical and scientific discoveries by Jews. Boy, was I wrong.
About 100 pages into the book the loose ends started to come together. When I finally realized what these gifts were it took my breath away. The core gift the Jews gave us was the Sabbath. That is all I will tell you. How by giving us the Sabbath further defined man's relationship with not just G-D but with each other is best found out by reading this little book. Little book Big message. |
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| "jews gift to Civilization -Thomas Cahill" | 2009-05-23 |
| - Reviewed By User: A36EZTKA504FAG |
As a non bible belting atheist Thomas Cahill brought me inside one of the greatest books ever written by MAN.
No preaching - no hallelujah's - just page after page of wise human insight and historical perspective on this amazing tribe - and the cultural moral and creative and philosophical awakening generated from their seminal relationship with YHWH.
His other great book "hHow the Irish Saved Civilization" is also a must read. |
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 "Cahill knows bible, but lacks background knowledge" | 2009-04-24 |
| - Reviewed By ms-du |
This book is about Abraham and the ancient Hebrews, and how they changed the way people think. The problem is that the story is not convincing at all.
Cahill lacks the the relevant background knowledge to write this book. Abraham and the Hebrews came from Ur, Sumer (Iraq), and if you want to write a book about Abraham and the Hebrews, you need to know Sumer, its religion and world views. The ancient Hebrews interacted with the ancient peoples of the Near and Middle East and were, not surprisingly, strongly influenced. Cahill doesn't know and therefore attributes a number of "new" world views incorrectly to the Hebrews. A case in point: the notion of a personal god. The Sumerians knew personal gods (house gods), but Cahill doesn't know and attributes the notion of a personal god to the Hebrews.
Cahill is very enthusiastic about the Hebrews, which is another way of saying that he's very biased. Time and again Cahill wants to make us believe that the possible is the probable. More often than not, it's unconvincing. Cahill simply wants to prove that the Hebrews brought gifts: he himself wants to believe it, and he wants us to believe it, too.
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| "The Finger of God in Human Affairs" | 2009-03-15 |
| - Reviewed By User: A3E1S1BT1W0RDB |
Following "How the Irish Saved Civilization", I read volume 2 of Thomas Cahill's Hinges of History series: The Gifts of the Jews.
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) |
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