Ancient Religion in a Modern World

What’s wrong with ambition and pride? 

In a revealing article in Mosaic Magazine titled “Homeric and Biblical Nobodies,” Professor Jacob Howland compares the idea of pride in the Jewish tradition and in Greek writing. The Bible, in Genesis, describes in detail two major building projects—Noah’s ark and the tower of Babel. 

The Babel story is about a people interested in building a great edifice to reach the heavens in order to “make a name” for themselves. Similarly, in Greek mythology, Odysseus challenges the gods and suffers greatly as a result. Howland’s thesis is that when both Greek civilization and early biblical figures challenged their deities for supremacy it resulted in chaos and disaster. It is with Abraham that the Hebraic notion of monotheism is introduced and the world transformed.

Thus began a key shift in which Greek figures fight for the sake of personal glory whereas Jewish heroes, like David, prevail in the name of God. In fact, David attributes his victory over Goliath not to his own ability, but to “the Lord who has rescued me from the lion and the bear.” 

The builders of the tower of Babel, however, were not like David. Their goal was to rival the Heavens, a group dedicated to what Howland terms “total autonomy … collective self-divinization.” The text’s implicit and fundamental question is: What values will prevail? Those of God or Man? 

The twentieth century saw jaw-dropping advances in science, medicine, technology and communication, and yet also bore witness to war after war, including two world wars that were responsible for deaths on an industrial scale unknown to previous generations. 

Humans’ presumption, arrogance and overweening pride dominated world affairs, as leaders and countries sought to make a name for themselves. Self-aggrandizement displaced all considerations of transcendent values, compassion or concern for others. 

Howland quotes Nietzsche who warned that one who fights monsters should take care not to become one himself. He was referring to Odysseus, but the idea applies universally. It reminds us of Golda Meir’s statement that some day Jews may forgive the Arabs for killing Jews, but they will never forgive them for turning us into killers. Conflict and war make monsters of us all, whereas universal religious values forge a sense of fellowship between all creation. 

In the final analysis, we are all dependent beings, limited, frail and mortal. It is the sublime values of Judaism that humanize us. Without these sublime values, not only are we not rivals for the Heavens, we also are less than human.  

Jewish sources suggest that destruction and chaos result from the human urge to be arrogant, and the textual emphasis on God is meant to prevent the anarchy that results from a limited, self-centred perspective. 

The Talmud’s Tractate Pesachim states with regard to anyone who acts haughtily, “if he is a Torah scholar, his wisdom departs from him; and if he is a prophet, his prophecy departs from him.” Maimonides asserts that conceit is loathsome to God “even in a king.” In all cases, vanity is viewed as diminishing rather than elevating a person, and undermining their potential for true greatness. 

Religion has been dismissed as primitive and unnecessary, even harmful, irrelevant to a technologically sophisticated society. However, that kind of disdain betrays a form of conceit that has proven destructive throughout history.

For all the moral failings of institutional religion, there is still a need for the values of understanding, compassion, human dignity and human rights that are the core and moral ethos of religious teachings. 

The late Chief Rabbi of Great Britain, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, wrote: “Long ago, we were called on to show the world that religion and morality go hand in hand. Never was that more needed than in an age riven by religiously-motivated violence in some countries, rampant secularity in others. To be a Jew is to be dedicated to the proposition that loving God means loving His image, humankind.”

In the babble of today’s divisive discourse, let us hear once again the wise counsel of our ancestors and allow it to guide us toward the highest expression of our humanity.

Dr. Paul Socken is Distinguished Professor Emeritus and founder of the Jewish Studies Program at the University of Waterloo.