Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are the three great monotheistic religions.
Each has a universalistic core, mixed with particularistic loyalties and symbols.
Each is capable of veering to one or the other side. The question is: What
determines when the stress will be on the universalistic side, and when it will
be on community distinctiveness and the arbitrary aspects of its tradition?
Building on the same cultural capital, one might regard the three as rival
universalizers of the Middle Eastern monotheism that emerged when the He-
brew cult of Yahweh temporarily unified the tribes of Palestine around 1000
b.c.e. Christianity developed in the Hellenistic orbit at the time when the last
hopes of restoring an autonomous Jewish state (and state religion) were being
crushed. Jesus, who died in the political crackdown on Jewish revolutionaries,
is of the same generation as Philo, who reconciled Judaism with Platonic
philosophy through an allegorical reading of the Pentateuch—the core of the
Mosaic Old Testament, already translated into Greek by the Hellenizing faction
within Judaism, the Sadducees. The growth of Christianity happened in the
same centuries as the rabbinical movement, which cast Judaism into what
became its standard form (Segal, 1986: 45–46, 52–54, 116–141). In the com-
munities cut off from the temple-oriented state cult at Jerusalem, religious
leadership was taken over by lay teachers, or rabbis. These developed a body
of interpretations of scripture expanded for application to conditions of life in
exile. This oral lore was organized into a vast literature, beginning with the
Mishnah around 200 c.e.
Without political sovereignty or a cult center, Jewish religion emphasized
private piety and ethical standards. Early Christianity was a rival move-
ment within the same social group—disenfranchised Jews of the Roman Em-
pire. Both movements involved an interplay of universalism and particularism.
The rabbinical movement elaborated purity rules, especially the kosher laws,
which had the effect of separating out a particularistic community oriented
around food rituals. But monotheism and ethical emphasis encouraged a wide
membership, and Judaism attracted many converts. It was in this commu-
nity of converts in the cities of the Roman Empire that Christianity grew. Even
after this point Judaism continued to proselytize, until its Christian rivals
became hostile and the Christian emperors made conversion to Judaism a crime
(Segal, 1986: 101–102, 177). After Christianity’s political triumph in the
Roman Empire, the center of Judaism shifted to Babylon, where Jews were a
tolerated minority under the rule of the Zoroastrians of the Sassanid Per-
sian Empire. The first centuries of Islam continued this pluralistic religious tol-
erance.
In Spain, the early Jewish population was persecuted by Christian rulers,
especially the Visigothic successors to Roman rule. The Jews welcomed the
Islamic conquerors of 711 as liberators, and for several centuries were closely
allied with the Muslim state (Pelaez del Rosal, 1985: 14–33). Eminent Jews
Tensions of Ideas: Islam, Judaism, Christendom^ •^433