(C2-2) Religious Plurality in the Charter of Israel

After the loss of their own statehood, in the light of the multi-religious challenges they were faced with being ruled by the Babylonians and the Persians, several representative religious groups of Ancient Israel went about constructing and protecting their own religious and ethnic identity by framing a founding history of Israel. To this end, the representative secular and priestly groups needed to agree on a compromise that, inwardly, allowed for their differing religious and ethical ideals and that, outwardly, kept a distinguishable individual profile of Israel. This negotiation process may be reconstructed particularly well by the example of the Book of Exodus’ history of origins, in which the most important principles of Israel’s plural self-conception were laid down (escape from Egypt, revelation of the ethical and cultic norms at Mount Sinai). The project involves an elaboration of the Exodus commentary.

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The Project is part of interconnecting platform G Religion, Politics, and Gender Relations and coordinated project group Dealing with religious diversity.