Sexuality and Its Development

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Actually, that idea is one more thing the Christians took from their Jewish roots.

 

Well, it is true that Jesus was Jewish, of course. So, it is a valid claim that the four Gospels of Jesus Christ have Hebrew roots, but that's not exactly a news flash. Nevertheless, my larger point was, despite your attempt to diminish it, that the life and teachings of Jesus altered the ancient world in profound ways and had a "democratizing" effect, although still far removed from what we consider modern democracy. For instance, the teachings of the Kingdom of Heaven and its notion of a place of equality in the afterlife. But I'm not even certain if Hebrew traditions before the birth of Christ ever considered the afterlife at all.

In fact, historically, I'm not that familiar with the track record of the Hebrew traditions and how it approached the whole notion of equality or democracy before the birth of Christ - for instance the rights of women, or its approach to slavery. I do know that some historians consider the notion of equality to have its beginnings in the teachings of Christ and that the teachings of Jesus were something very different from orthodox Judaism. Hence the reason they are now almost completely different religions. Unless of course the Four Gospels and the teachings of Christ have been incorporated into Judaism -- that would be a news flash.

 

@CtR: I'll completely agree with you that Christianity did more for spreading the idea of equality throughout the ancient world than did Judaism. I'll also concede that Christianity came up with the idea of equality in the afterlife, but that's mostly because Judaism is a religion that is focused on making the here and now - the world we all actually live in - a better place, not on reaching that "better place" after we die.

Within ancient Jewish communities, women could own their own property, separate from their husbands. They held rights with a marriage and could sue for divorce if those rights weren't upheld. If women were excused from some of the religious obligations that men were held to, it was because women had other, equally important obligations to carry out.

I'd have to dig up the explicit reference, but I read that many of the principles that the founding fathers fell back upon when drafting the notions of justice that form the basis of American society came directly from the Old Testament. If those ideas were revolutionary back in the 1700-whatevers, imagine how radical they were 4000 years earlier.