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Ideas of Paul Johnson, by Text

[British, fl. 1987, Journalist and historian.]

1987 The History of the Jews
Pt I p.30 A key moment is the idea of a single moral God, who imposes his morality on humanity
Pt I p.33 In Mosaic legal theory, crimes are sins and sins are crimes
Pt I p.34 Because human life is what is sacred, Mosaic law has no death penalty for property violations
Pt I p.34 Man's life is sacred, because it is made in God's image
Pt I p.40 Mosaic law was the first to embody the rule of law, and equality before the law
Pt I p.47 Sampson illustrates the idea that religious heroes often begin as outlaws and semi-criminals
Pt I p.74 Isaiah moved Israelite religion away from the local, onto a more universal plane
Pt II p.83 In exile the Jews became a nomocracy
Pt II p.83 Judaism involves circumcision, Sabbath, Passover, Pentecost, Tabernacles, New Year, and Atonement
Pt II p.85 Zoroastrians believed in one eternal beneficent being, Creator through the holy spirit
Pt II p.102 The Jews sharply distinguish human and divine, but the Greeks pull them closer together
Pt II p.121 Immortality based on judgement of merit was developed by the Egyptians (not the Jews)
Pt II p.156 The Pharisees undermined slavery, by giving slaves responsibility and status in law courts
Pt II p.161 The main doctrine of the Pharisees was belief in resurrection and the afterlife
Pt III p.179 The Torah pre-existed creation, and was its blueprint
Pt III p.190 Pious Jews saw heaven as a vast library