Finished Thomas Cahill’s The Gifts of the Jews: How a Tribe of Desert Nomads Changed the Way Everyone Thinks and Feels last week and had some lively interaction over it this past weekend at a book club I’m in.First – there’s a lot that is helpful about this book, especially if you’re not familiar with some of the Ancient Near East background that really is the context of a large portion of the Old Testament or Jewish Scriptures. Cahill does a good job providing a lot of the background that helps you understand and think about the Old Testament narratives from the vantage point of what was going on in the culture. That’s an important element to understanding what the heck is going on that a lot of people today remain ignorant of.Second, the book almost functions as an overview or summary of the entire Old Testament. That has value as well. In a couple hundred pages you can get a pretty good feel for the Israelite story and narrative prior to the time of Jesus. Again – very valuable.However, here’s a couple things I didn’t enjoy. First – I’m not looking for brief overviews of Israelite history and there were a lot of times where Cahill buzzes the tower on something of great depth, but he then goes back to historical exposition and summary. Second, I didn’t really agree with some of his conclusions and insights, particularly about how paradigms for women in the Israelite context and in the generally patriarchal culture of the time.One of the great insights of the book is that through the promise to Abraham that was passed on to his family, the concept of time shifted from old “Wheel in the Sky” paradigm (got the Journey song in your head yet?) to a forward moving paradigm of time that introduced the mystery of the future and of a God who transcended explanation and formulas.I think that’s a fascinating insight to consider and think about. I was bothered though because I believe some of Cahill’s presuppositions and approach to the material lead him to try to resolve many of the elements of the Old Testament and God that don’t make sense to him through deconstructing the text to make it fit what he can understand. He affirms mystery, but doesn’t allow for much of it in his hermeneutic. If it doesn’t fit, he demonstrates that he is likely to redefine it or explain it away until it does fit.There’s some great insights here that I’ve already posted about and it is worth a read if it’s a subject of interest to you. However, I enjoyed his How the Irish Saved Civilization much more than this one even though I walk away from it with some really significant things I’m thinking about. It serves to raise some awesome questions, but I think Cahill gets out of his league in trying to offer defined answers to some of these questions that have no easy answer.Last thing – the cover implies how the Israelites changed the way everyone thinks and feels. But it’s clear in the book that he’s talking about western civilization and he clearly states that what he’s observing would not apply to say a Hindu or Buddhist context. So there’s perhaps some hyperbole in the title as well.But – I enjoyed the read and I love a couple things I’ve taken away so it provoked great questions and thought. Hard to ask for more than that from a book.
