Monotheistic Revolution I

Lecture Notes

Before we begin the lecture proper, I wanted to take a moment to talk about the terminology I will be using throughout the presentation. You see, when talking about the Hebrews, there are two terms that can be used. The first is "Hebrew"; the second one is "Jew" or "Jewish". In some cases, these terms can be used interchangeably, particularly when talking about the earliest history of the Hebrews, since their political and religious history went almost hand in hand. However, to be accurate, it is important to know the difference between these two terms: "Hebrew" is the name given to the people and their culture. The term comes from their language, ancient Hebrew. In contrast, "Jew" or "Jewish person" is the term used to refer to the followers of Judaism, the religion originally developed by the Hebrews. In the modern world, not all Hebrews are Jewish, and not all Jews are Hebrew. However, in the ancient world, for the most part, all Hebrews were Jewish, and all Jews were Hebrew. For this reason, I used the terms interchangeably in this PowerPoint. Still, you should remember the difference between the terms and use the correct one according to the context in which you are using it.