A History Of The Jews (Perennial Library) (1988) - Plot & Excerpts
This history of the Jews is written through the ideas of a devout Christian who believes, i think wrongly, that Jesus intended to abandon Judaism in order to start a new religion . Yet, Johnson's own account of Jesus' ministry confirms that Jesus, a student and follower of Hillel, had as His mission the aim of getting Jews to practice what they preached Before enlarging upon this perhaps controversial claim, we should consider Johnson's reasons for writing the 4000 year recorded history of the Jews. First, there's that fact: it is a 4000 year history, the longest continuous history of any people, a history known not only through the Bible, but through ancient writings of people the Jews came in contact with We know about the Jews from cuniform tablets, papyruses, steles' sculptures, comparative mythologies and fragments of ancient history, as well as from archaeological investigationHowever, it's not their longevity alone that fascinates Johnson It's that from Abraham's first entry on the historical scene up to modern times, Jews had a vision of man's purpose, of the dignity of the individual and the equality of all before God. In his epilogue, Johnson asks what the world would have been without the insistence of Jews on these values He admits someone else might have come along and preached these ideas, but they didn't and the Jews did. Jesus died at the hands of the Romans for such preaching. That Jesus expected Jews to believe as He did is shown by his calling some Pharisees hypocrites. A hypocrite is one who supposedly ascribes to what you believe, but doesn't practice it. Johnson admits that Jesus was a student of the Pharisee Hillel Indeed, having been raised on Hillel's teachings, while reading the Gospels, I was surprised that Jesus quoted that sage so often.Johnson does tell the famous story of Hillel and the pagan When the pagan asked Hillel to explain Judaism while he stood on one leg, Hillel said,"Do not do unto others whatyou wouldn't have them do unto you. All else is commentary."Johnson derides Hillel's answer because, Johnson says, to be Jewish you still had to follow the Law, by which he means the Kosher laws, Sabbath rules , and male circumcision. What Johnson fails to understand is that the laws don't have to be followed for salvation. They are followed as reminders to be pure and good and never to forget your duty to God and man. Following the letter of the law and not being a good and charitable person doesn't make you a good Jew Not only was that Hillel's point, but it is both explicit and implicit in Leviticus. Or does Johnson reject the advanced morality of that book, a morality which underlies current charity, labor law, injury law and ethical dealing? Leviticus is part of Jewish law. Does Johnson believe Jesus intended that to be ababdoned?Johnson says Jesus rode into Jerusalem on Passover with the intent of starting a new religion. Yes, he created havoc with the hated money changers. But He was not alone in despising the Jewish priesthood: the Sadducees.The Jews already hated them and of course they were done away with by Rabbinical JudaismJesus' anger was very Jewish at the time. No most people then or now wouldnt create an overt disturbance, but Jesus was not alone among his contemporarieeJesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, carrying a palm frond, like all devout Jews making the Passover pilgrimage. That evening, like all Jewish leaders at the Seder, he blessed the wine, using a Kiddush cup--what Christians call a chalice. He then followed the order of the Seder by blessing the Matzoh (unleavened bread) . All this is ordinary JudaismJohnson claims that Jesus was establishing communion so that the wine stood for his blood and the bread for his body. Well, first of all, Jews don't eat blood. Kosher Jews salt their meat to rid it of blood The Kiddush and Motzi are regular features of Jewish holy days and have nothing to do with communion. However, the Greek festival of Demeter, well known to Romans and other pagans, aswell as Grecophiles did feature participants drinking wine and eating bread so they could have eternal life. This seems to be a more likely origin of Communion than Jesus' leading the Seder The Gospels were written 100 years and more after Jesus and they were written in Greek The reason I gave this only 3 stars is that, despite the excellence and impartiality of most of this history, Johnson's proselytizing at the end is inappropriate for the history he purported to be writing Also with his knowledge of classics, he should have noted the Greek origins of Communion. Moreover, the history ofthe Jews didn't end with Jesus as Johnson shows, so why did he interjectChristian proselytizing in his history of Jews?
Gushing tribute to Judiasm and the Jewish experience. He covers 4 thousand years, hurtling through Abraham and Moses, the Torah, Judea and Israel, Babylonian captivity, the prophet and kings, the Temple, Jesus, the Maccabees, and the travails of the diaspora in Spain, especially under the inquisition, and on to central and eastern Europe, amongst the Poles and Russians, and the split between the poor Jews and the assimilated thinkers and traders, the court Jews. All leading to Hitler's holocaust, whose survivors embraced Zionism, or America.He writes fluently, including pen pictures of a wide range of characters, and lots of statistics, many out of context. He loves sweeping statements, which drive the narrative on, bit which on reflection tell only part of the story. He equates anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism, and by the end (nearly 600pp) he is entirely dismissive of any alternative perspective on events in Palestine. He rightly highlights the extraordinary output of talent out of all proportion to their numbers, and the contribution in the arts, sciences, and political theory. Their survival rests on their strong identity reinforced by religious and cultural practices, by which they stand apart from the other nations. They believe themselves selected by God, and some among them think they are therefore superior. In practice there is huge diversity of observance, of assimilation, of outlook, but even nonreligious Jews cannot evade the burdens and challenges of 4000 years of history, while this one self- selected people continue to stand in the forefront of intellectual and literary endeavour, exciting admiration and resentment in the process.A very readable book, but in its dash through the years it often simplifies the narrative or casts loose from context, or fails to compare the circumstances of Jewish communities with those around them, in time of war or famine. Events are often related with jouralistic brio, but result is episodic, without a convincing cohesive narrative.
What do You think about A History Of The Jews (Perennial Library) (1988)?
Catholic Guilt?Paul Johnson is nothing but thorough in his massive and well researched history of the Jews. Though he is clear and at pains to show the truth about Jewish history and to praise Jews throughout for their contributions to the world, one cannot escape the lack of 'mea culpa' in the Catholic role of persecution - he is after all, a leading Catholic writer. He also avoids Geza Vermes' conclusion that Jesus and his followers were indeed wholly Jewish, and not some self-appointed Messiah cult. It was Paul who created the fatal schism between followers of Jesus (Joshua, to give him his right name) and the more traditional Jewish disciples who took part in the events of his life and death. All the Gospels accepted by the Church were written by Paul's followers well after his split with the Jews, and became increasingly anti-Jewish after the First Revolt against Rome. That Johnson is ignorant of these facts is simply not possible.With these caveats, I doubt anyone, Jew or Gentile, would not learn a great deal from this one volume. I know I did. Johnson is intelligent, clear eyed, and creates some wonderful insights into the facts. That Israel today is riven by the same tensions between the worldly (Saul) and the religious (Samuel)is one bold and largely true insight. Johnson is clearly full of praise for the Jews throughout, though he is not sparing in his adept analysis of Jewish self-hatred, as seen in Marx and many other characters. This is due to the astonishing persecution throughout the ages, and the internal fight between the worldly and religious. There is much to think about here and reflect.Johnson is also unsparing about his views of tormented Israel and the role of the Arabs, Soviet Union and oil money in creating a topsy-turvy image of Zionism as racism. Haven't Jews suffered enough? This is the question asked by the pious Jews who see Israel as man's presumptuous over-stepping of God. No, there is more to come. Though written in 1987, this book has enough bite to be relevant today, and if you have the time, patience and resolve, reading it is well worth while.
—Richard Block
The first three parts of the book were very interesting and I especially enjoyed learning about the prophets as actual people, as well as all the variety of Jewish sects that sprung up in antiquity. Where the book runs out of steam starts in the fourth part, when he starts to get bogged down by continuous listings of dates and cities of expulsions and pogroms. We get it, already! Listing dates and locations doesn't make for an interesting book. He also gets bogged down with listing all these people we are supposed to know who were Jews, or Jews who weren't "Jews". These lists get extremely tiresome especially when there are things that are left out. Johnson also seems to loose focus as the book goes on jumping from topic to topic. It would seriously benefit from being broken into chapters within the different parts, then there wouldn't be these strained connections between paragraphs to bring us to new topics.There is no mention of the historical placement of the story of Esther (perhaps there is no historical basis for it? I don't know, because it's not discussed). While Maimonides is well covered, I don't remember much discussed about Rashi (I could be mistaken, though). When discussed, Kabbalah seems to elicit a negative bias from the author. The Pittsburgh Platform and t'reifah banquet get all of a paragraph, even though they were defining moments in American Judaism and nothing is discussed about the Conservative Movement in America. Very little is revealed about jewish life under Islamic control, aside from listings of anti-Semitic laws, expulsions and killings. The book is very Euro-centric, so very little is discussed about the history of Jews in Africa, India, China, and Latin America (again, aside from expulsions and killings and airlifts to bring them to Israel).So, it starts out great and interesting, but looses steam and focus and clarity.
—Michael
I was looking for comprehensive history of the Jews and this books certainly delivers. Johnson does an excellent job of leading the reader through ancient times until the present, documenting the history of the Jews against the context of the hostile world we have lived in. His writing is clear and he takes the time to introduce the reader to the important characters both Jewish and gentile. The history of the Jews IS the history of anti-semitism. It is as old as the earth and it never flags even today. My strongest reaction to the material, when it was all laid out, was - why have we gone through so many eons of history accepting the idea that sometimes "things for the Jews were okay," which means better than other times, but never living with complete respect, ALWAYS looking over our backs for the next attack.
—Elsie Klumpner
