Monotheism and Moses: The Genesis of Judaism

130 Pages·1969·17.222 MB·English

by  Robert J. Christen, Harold E. Hazelton

296.311 Robert J. Christen • Harold E. Hazelton
C462m
HEATH AND COMPANY
D. C.
/r
.
Undergraduate
PROBLEMS IN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION
UNDER THE EDITORIAL DIRECTION OF
Ralph W. Greenlaw* and Dwight E. hee\
Monotheism andMoses RobertJ.Christen andHaroldE. Hazelton,ManhattanCollege*
Tiberius Gracchus John M. Riddle, North Carolina.State University*
Decline and Fall of thb Roman Empire Donald Kagan, Cornell University^
The PmENNE Thesis, Revised"' Alfred F. Havighurst, Amherst College*
The Coronation of Charlemagne Richard E. Sullivan, Michigan State University^
The Holy Roman Empire,jn thI?Meddle Ages Robert E. Herzstein, Massachusetts
Institute of Technology^
Town Origlns John F. Benton, California Institute of Technology*
The Gregorian Epoch Shafer Williams*
Innocent III James M. Powell, Syracuse University^
The Crusades James A. Brundage, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee*
The Renaissance Karl H. Dannenfeldt, Arizona State University*
Machiavelli De Lamar Jensen, Brigham Young University*
The Reformation Lewis W. Spitz, Stanford University*
Reformation and Authority Kyle C. Sessions, Illinois State University*
Henry VIII and the English Reformation Arthur J. Slavin, University of California
at Los Angeles*
The "New Monarchies" and Representative Assemblies Arthur Slavin,
J.
University ofCaliforniaatLosAngeles*
Early English Parliaments Gerald P. Bodet, Louisiana State University in New
Orleans*
The Expansion of Europe De LamarJensen, Brigham Young University*
The Rise of Modern Science George Basalla, University of Texas*
The Character of Philip II John C. Rule and John J. Te Paske, Ohio State
University*
The French Wars of Religion J. H. M. Salmon, University of Waikato, New
Zealand*
The Thirty Years' War Theodore K. Rabb, Princeton University*
Protestantism and Capitalism Robert W. Green, Pennsylvania State University*
Mercantilism Walter E. Minchinton, University of Exeter, England*
The Origins of the English CivilWar PhilipA. M. Taylor, University of Hull,
England*
Oliver Cromwell and the Puritan Revolt Richard E. Boyer, University of Toledo*
The Revolution of 1688 Gerald M. Straka, Rice University^
Peter the Great Marc Raeff, Columhia University^
The Greatness of Louis XIV William F. Church, Brown University^
Enlightened Despotism Roger Wines, Eordham University*
George III E. A. Reitan, Illinois State University*
The Eighteenth Century Revolution Peter Amann, State University of New York
at Binghamton^
The Influence of the Enlightenment on the French Revolution William F.
Church, Brown University*
The Economic Origins of the French Revolution Ralph W. Greenlaw, North
Carolina State University*
continued on inside hack cover
MONOTHEISM AND MOSES
/ /

/
PROBLEMS IN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION
MONOTHEISM AND MOSES
Edited with an introduction by
Robert J. Christen and Harold E. Hazelton
MANHATTAN COLLEGE
Undergraduate
HEATH AND COMPANY
D. C.
A DIVISION OF
RAYTHEON EDUCATION COMPANY
LEXINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS
.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 68-8047
©
Copyright 1969
iYTHEON BY RAYTHEON EDUCATION COMPANY
All rightsreserved. No part of this publication may he reproduced or
transmitted in any form or hy any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopy, recording, orany information storage or retrieval
system,withoutpermission inwriting from thepublisher.
Printed in the United States of America
L
Table of Contents
THE PRIMARY SOURCE
I.
Exodus
i
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF MONOTHEISM
II.
AND FRANKFORT
H. H. A.
Emancipation from Myth 8
ALEXANDER HEIDEL
Noah and Utnapishtim 15
STEWART EASTON
C.
The Ethical Implications of Monotheism 20
THE EGYPTIAN QUESTION
III.
JAMES HENRY BREASTED
Akhnaton, the First Monotheist 22
JOHN WILSON
A.
Was Akhnaton a Monotheist? 34
vi Contents
THE FREUDIAN HYPOTHESIS
IV.
SALO W. BARON
A Review of Freud 39
H L. PH ILP
.
A Question of Method 43
BRUCE MAZLISH
Freud as Philosopher of History 53
THE HEBREW ORIGINS OF MONOTHEISM
V.
HARRY M ORLINSKY
.
Abraham and Moses 59
WILLIAM FOXWELL ALBRIGHT
Moses as Monotheist 61
THEOPHILE JAMES MEEK
Moses as Monolatrist 68
WILLIAM FOXWELL ALBRIGHT
A
Rejoinder 78
ROWLEY
H. H.
Moses as the Source of Monotheism 79
MARTIN BUBER
The Nature of Yahweh 88
WILLIAM McNEILL
H.
The Theme in Its Setting 96
Suggestions for Additional Reading 103
Introduction
7
HE CULTURAL INFLUENCE of the Old fact. On the other hand, many believe that
Testament on European civilization the editors of the Pentateuch made signifi-
is as incalculable as it is proverbial. Ac- cant alterations in narrating the religious
knowledged over the centuries by Jews and traditions from earlier times, in order to
Christians as Holy Writ, literally as the make the scriptures correspond more closely
Word of God, the Old Testament has pro- to their own beliefs and practices. In fact,
vided inspiration for many of Western there is evidence to suggest that the early
man's noblest achievements, and, unfortu- Hebrews had much more in common with
nately, has been cited as justification for their Near Eastern neighbors, and were
some of his darkest deeds. culturally more indebted to them, than was
The authorship of the sacred scriptures once supposed.
has been attributed traditionally to certain On many issues of Old Testament his-
divinely inspired writers. Tradition has tory, Jewish and Christian scholars, as well
ascribed the first five books of the Old as those with no particular religious com-
Testament, the Pentateuch, to Moses. mitments, are in accord. But one issue that
Though obvious inconsistencies in the text has given rise to widely differing interpre-
had long troubled readers, the grip of the tations and some very heated controversy is
Mosaic tradition was so strong that through the genesis of Judaic monotheism. Once
the centuries ingenious explanations were uncritically accepted as the most distinctive
devised.in its support. Not until the nine- characteristic of the religious thought of
—
teenth century did biblical scholars succeed the Jews clearly discernible in the patri-
in probing into the question of authorship archal period and emphatically proclaimed
—
in a spirit of independent inquiry. At that in the -Mosaic era monotheism, some
time not only did they reject the idea of scholars now insist, did not originate with
Mosaic authorship, but they also concluded the Hebrews and was not even explicitly
that the Pentateuch had been compiled or embraced by them until long after the time
edited from older oral and written sources of Moses. Monotheism is deceptively sim-
by a number of persons. They also proved ple as a religious concept. It remains, how-
that the Pentateuch took final form only ever, a most complex historical problem.
after the composition of many of the books This volume presents conflicting hypothe-
in the Old Testament which follow it. ses by renowned scholars about such ques-
For a time, these discoveries prompted tions as when monotheism gained accep-
some scholars to dismiss the Pentateuch as tance by the Jews, whether Moses was a
historically worthless, but later findings by true monotheist, and what influence the
historians and archaeologists have reversed alleged monotheism of the pharaoh Akhna-
this trend. So many details of the biblical ton may have had upon the religious his-
narrative have been proven correct that tory of the Jews.
most authorities are convinced today that Since the touchstone for any discussion
the early accounts of the patriarchal period of Judaic monotheism is still the Old Testa-
(Abraham to Jacob) and of the Mosaic pe- ment, our first selection is comprised of
riod are grounded on a solid substratum of some especially pertinent passages from the
vn
Vlll Introduction
Book of Exodus. The first passage describes the first true monotheist. Breasted did not
the oppression of the Hebrews at the hands claim that Akhnaton's faith, Atonism, influ-
of the Egyptians; the next, the riseof Moses enced Moses, but he was convinced that
as the deliverer of the Hebrews; and the Atonism had some impact upon the later
last, the sojourn of the Hebrews at Sinai religious development of the Jews. Breasted
where Moses received the commandment: often cited in support of his position an
"I, the Lord, am your God, who brought apparent similarity between Akhnaton's
you out of the land of Egypt, out of a state hymn to Aton and the 104th Psalm. In the
of slavery. You must have no other gods selection that follows, John A. Wilson ac-
beside me." knowledges this similarity but accounts for
The intellectual and ethical import of it quite differently, thus reducing its signifi-
this famous injunction is the subject of the cance. Moreover, he challenges the very
three selections in Part II. In the first, H. notion thatAkhnatonwasatruemonotheist.
and H. A. Frankfort point out that the Well before Wilson penned his criti-
adoption of monotheism involved much cisms, Sigmund Freud seized upon
more than the simplerenunciation of"other Breasted's claim that Akhnaton was the
gods." It signalled a qualitative change first monotheist and used it as an historical
from previous patterns of thought about underpinning in Moses and Monotheism,
God's relationship to nature and to man. the last of his celebrated writings on the
For example, the God of Israel imposed nature of religious belief. In Moses and
upon his subjects a moral standard which Monotheism Freud, who believed that the
was simply not included in the religious insights derived from psychoanalysis could
thought of their polytheistic predecessors be effectively employed to illuminate epi-
or neighbors. This point is illustrated in sodes lying beyond the purview of ordinary
selections from the writings of Alexander historians, put forth a startling hypothesis.
Heidel and Stewart C. Easton. Heidel Freud contended, contrary to what the
compares the familiar biblical flood story Bible indicates, that Moses was not a He-
with its parallel from the literature of an- brew but an Egyptian disciple of Akhnaton
cient Babylon. The two stories are strik- who, following his master's death, adopted
ingly similar in certain details, but Heidel the Hebrews then in Egypt as his people,
argues that the moral dissimilarities are and initiated them into the Aton religion
actually more pronounced. Easton offers as he led them toward the promised land.
additional reasons for regarding Jewish Part IV, "The Freudian Hypothesis," in-
monotheism as a force for moral revolution. cludes a careful recapitulation and his-
Because Judaic monotheism is so impor- torical critiques of Freud's argument in
tant a development in human history, complementary reviews of Moses and
scholars have been especially interested in Monotheism by Salo Baron and H. L.
determining when and where the idea orig- Philp.1 In a selection from Bruce Mazlish's
inated, and just how it was transmitted and provocative study, The Riddle of History:
refined. One hypothesis that has attracted The Great Speculators from Vico to Freud,
considerable attention is that Judaic mono- the reader will find a further evaluation of
theism was inspired by the religious con- Freud's ideas in terms of his philosophy of
ceptions of the heretic king of Egypt, Akh- history.
naton. The merits of this hypothesis, and Whatever Mosaic religion owed to Egypt,
some of its ramifications, are discussed in there is no gainsaying that it was deeply
the selections grouped together in Part III, indebted to the Hebrew patriarchs. The
"The Egyptian Question." In the first selec- final section of the pamphlet opens with a
tion, a famous American Egyptologist,
1 Readersinterested in examiningFreud'swritings
James H. Breasted, unfolds his reasons for on religion will find his major tides listed in the
believing that Akhnaton, not Moses, was "Suggestions for Additional Reading."