The Gifts of the Jews: How a Tribe of Desert Nomads Changed the Way Everyone Thinks and Feels (Hinges of History),   ISBN:9780385482493

Customer Rating: 

I received this book as a gift and it has been in my pile of to-read books for a while. I thought it was just another look at the Jews. But now after finishing it quite quickly, it was a breath of fresh air. A very refreshing look at why the Jews, and monotheism, brought a whole new perspective to the world and how, after 3000 years, the spirit lives on. From the beginnings of Abraham through to the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem the book gives an in-depth look at the people and personalities that paved the way, using the scriptures as a guide. Cahill weaves this narrative into a look at how people interacted with each other and how that changed as people gained a new view of the world. The one thing that I would critique is that the book ends at the return from the Babylonian exile. So much happened between 538 BC and the birth of Christianity that this key piece is missing. The book would have been that much more powerful if Cahill had ended with the birth of Christianity...

Customer Rating: 

This book really sheds light on how we really owe so much to the Jews in improving our values and our very way of life. I've always been empathetic for the Jewish plight but now I can say there is appreciation and enlightenment.

Customer Rating: 

This is a fantastic book to give you a further insite on portions of the Old Testament in relation to the history of the Jews from Abraham.

Customer Rating: 

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.

Customer Rating: 

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.