Monocult makes monotheism. Unamuno, Life 4.3
Unamuno
first discusses the contribution of Judaism to Christianity.
Brotó,
decíamos, el cristianismo de una confluencia de los dos grandes
procesos espirituales, judaico y helénico, cada uno de los cuales
había llegado por su parte, si no a la definición precisa, al
preciso anhelo de otra vida. No fué entre los judíos ni general ni
clara la fe en otra vida; pero a ella les llevó la fe en un Dios
personal y vivo, cuya formación es toda su historia espiritual.
Jahvé,
el Dios judaico, empezó siendo un dios entre otros muchos, el dios
del pueblo de Israel, revelado entre el fragor de la tormenta en el
monte Sinaí. Pero era tan celoso, que exigía se le rindiese culto a
él sólo, y fué por el monocultismo como los judíos llegaron al
monoteísmo. Era adorado como fuerza viva, no como entidad
metafísica, y era el dios de las batallas. Pero este Dios, de origen
social y guerrero, sobre cuya génesis hemos de volver, se hizo más
íntimo y personal en los profetas, y al hacerse más íntimo y
personal, más individual y más universal, por lo tanto. Es Jahvé,
que no ama a Israel por ser hijo suyo, sino que le toma por hijo,
porque le ama (Oseas XI, 1). Y la fe en el Dios personal, en el Padre
de los hombres, lleva consigo la fe en la eternización del hombre
individual, que ya en el fariseísmo alborea, aun antes de Cristo.
We just said that Christianity arose from a confluence of two great
spiritual processes or traditions, the Jewish and the Greek, each of
which had arrived on its own at the definite desire for another life,
even if that life was not itself conceived in definite terms. Among
the Jews, faith in another life was neither common to all nor clear, but
such as it was, it did lie at the end of their faith in a personal
and living god, which they cultivated over the course of their entire
spiritual history.
Yahweh,
the Jewish God, began as one deity among many others: the god of the
people of Israel, revealed in the thunder of the storm on mount
Sinai. But he was so jealous that he demanded an exclusive cult from
his worshippers, and it was by way of monocult that the Jews arrived
at monotheism. Yahweh was adored as a living force, not a
metaphysical entity: he was the god of battles. But this god,
originating from society and war in a process we shall revisit, made
himself more intimate and personal in the revelations of the
prophets, and in becoming more intimate and personal, he became also
more individual and universal. It is Yahweh who loves Israel not
simply for being his child,
but because he chooses the nation as his child, acting out of love (Hosea 11.1) (†). Faith in a personal God, the father of all mankind, brings
with it faith in the eternity of each individual person, which we see
dawning already in the doctrines of the Pharisees, before Christ (‡).
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(†)
"For Israel was a child, and I loved him, and summoned his
offspring from Egypt" (Hosea 11.1). This is my rendering from
the LXX: ὅτι νήπιος Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ ἐγὼ
ἠγάπησα αὐτόν, καὶ ἐξ Αἰγύπτου
μετεκάλεσα τὰ τέκνα αὐτοῦ.