The Invention of Religion

A groundbreaking account of how the Book of Exodus shaped fundamental aspects of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

The Book of Exodus may be the most consequential story ever told. But its spectacular moments of heaven-sent plagues and parting seas overshadow its true significance, says Jan Assmann, a leading historian of ancient religion. The story of Moses guiding the enslaved children of Israel out of captivity to become God's chosen people is the foundation of an entirely new idea of religion, one that lives on today in many of the world's faiths. The Invention of Religion sheds new light on ancient scriptures to show how Exodus has shaped fundamental understandings of monotheistic practice and belief.

Assmann delves into the enduring mythic power of the Exodus narrative, examining the text's compositional history and calling attention to distinctive motifs and dichotomies: enslavement and redemption; belief and doubt; proper worship and idolatry; loyalty and betrayal. Revelation is a central theme--the revelation of God's power in miracles, of God's presence in the burning bush, and of God's chosen dwelling among the Israelites in the vision of the tabernacle. Above all, it is God's covenant with Israel—the binding obligation of the Israelites to acknowledge God as their redeemer and obey His law—that is Exodus's most encompassing and transformative idea, one that challenged basic assumptions about humankind's relationship to the divine in the ancient world.

The Invention of Religion is a powerful account of how ideas of faith, revelation, and covenant, first introduced in Exodus, shaped Judaism and were later adopted by Christianity and Islam to form the bedrock of the world's Abrahamic religions.

"In this bold reading of the Book of Exodus, Jan Assmann, one of the world's leading intellectuals, shows how Exodus preserves prebiblical Egyptian and Israelite memories while eliciting a ‘monotheism of loyalty’ that has defined much of Western religion."—David M. Carr, author of The Formation of the Hebrew Bible

"In this brilliant, imaginative, and comprehensive study of the Book of Exodus, Jan Assmann draws on his extensive and nuanced knowledge of ancient civilizations, cultural memory, and biblical texts to make the case that the Exodus story of the liberation of a people is also the story of the unprecedented invention of a radically new conception of religion—one that became the basis for Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The breadth and depth of Assmann's multifaceted explorations are dazzling."—Richard J. Bernstein, New School for Social Research

"Jan Assmann's latest book is a blockbuster—beautifully written, capacious, learned, and endlessly creative. It is sure to become a touchstone for scholars and readers interested in the Bible, the ancient world, and the history of monotheism, past and present."—Jonathan Sheehan, University of California, Berkeley

"Jan Assmann, one of Germany's most influential historians and intellectuals, breaks new ground in The Invention of Religion. It is a remarkable achievement, one that promises to spark controversy."—Jacob L. Wright, Emory University