Articles
 Justice for All
 Church in Decline
 Striking Similarity
 The Efficacy of Prayer
 Are You Ready for Change?
 A Question of Vocation
 The Challenge of Change
 Elul 24
 Elul 23
 Elul 22

Series [All]
 Administration
 Elul 5777 (9)
 Exploring Translation Theories (25)
 Live Like You Give a Damn
 Memory and Identity
 The Creative Word (19)
 The Cross-Cultural Process (7)
 The Old Testament is Dying
 The Oral Gospel Tradition (4)
 We the People (8)

Archive

Monday, 4 July 2016

Deuteronomic Lessons II

Religion and Cultural Memory (tr. Rodney Livingstone),
Jan Assmann, Stanford University Press, 2006, page 20

Assman's second Deuteronomic lesson is that the book is both complex and comprehensive.

It is not concerned just with bonds in the sense of political allegiance, but also in the sense of establishing a common identity that ties the individual into the learning and remembering community of the people. In other words, what is instilled are the bonds of community, and not just the bonds of rule.

Put another way, by remembering the story, the people become and remain a people and so are in a position to abide by the commandments as a people.

Posted By Jonathan, 8:00am Comment Comments: 0