Chapter XLII: Islam and the Jews

Christianity and Islam -- The Koran or the Sword -- The
Spread of Islam -- Fall of Visigothic Spain. 304-310

List of Illustrations

PAGE

Jerusalem besieged by Titus _Frontispiece_

Antiochus Epiphanes 42

Half Shekel, Simon Maccabeus 50

Shekel, Simon Maccabeus 51

Goat-skin water bottles 66

The Temple of Jerusalem 74

Ground plan of Temple Area 75

Coin of Johanan the High Priest 84

Coin of the Time of Alexandra 87

The Pool of Siloam 90

Julius Caesar 97

Coin of Antigonus on his accession 101

Emperor Augustus 105

Coin of Agrippa I. 148

Coin of Agrippa II. 152

Battlement on a house-top 160

Emperor Titus 164

Coin of the Reign of Titus 166

The Golden Candlestick (on Arch of Titus depicting
carrying the spoil of Judea) 169

Flavius Josephus 173

The Arch of Titus, raised to commemorate the
overthrow of Judea 180

Brass Coin struck in Rome during reign of
Vespasian, indicating Judea's overthrow 189

Brass Coin of Nerva, marking the withdrawal of
certain abuses in connection with the Jewish Tax 205

Coin of the Second Revolt of Bar Cochba 216

Map, Palestine Before the War, 66 B.C.E. Front

Map, The Diaspora Back

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES.

PAGE

Under Persian Sway 17

Greek and Jew 26

Greco-Syria and the Maccabees 33, 45

The Hasmonean House 73

Emperors and Procurators 120, 152

Rome and Jewry after Judea's overthrow 201

Emperors and Rabbis 229

The Talmud's compilation and Rome's fall 250

In Christian Europe and Moslem Arabia 281

Themes for Discussion

CHAPTER PAGE

I. Discuss the relations between _Judaism as
law_ and Mendelssohn's statement that
"Judaism is not a revealed religion but a
revealed legislation." 25

II. What was the significance of the defeat of
Persia by Greece for civilization in general
and for the Jew in particular? 30

IV. Had the Hasmoneans the right to assume the
office of High Priest? 51

V. Compare the treatment of wisdom in Proverbs
(viii) and in Ecclesiasticus. 66

VI. Are there traces of Greek philosophy in the
Septuagint? 71

VII. Compare modern with ancient parties in
Israel. 84

VIII. Contrast the Wood Festival of ancient Judea
with Arbor Day in modern America. 90

X. Single out great events in Israel influenced
by, and influencing the Jews. 101

XI. Did Herod succeed or did he fail? 110

XII. Is it possible, as Hillel said, to evolve the
whole law from the Golden Rule? 116

XIV. Does official Judaism discourage conversion?
Why did the Jews oppose a census on religious
grounds? 126

XV. Why cannot Jesus be accepted by the synagogue
to-day? 135

XVI. Why did most heathen converts to Judaism
ultimately become Christians? 140

XVII. Why did rabbinic Judaism neglect Philo? 146

XVIII. If Agrippa had lived and reigned as long
as Herod----? 152

XIX. Compare the Zealots of antiquity with to-day's
Russian revolutionists; the Sicarii
with the anarchists; the procurators with
the Czar's local governors. 156

XX. Make clear the difference in principle between
Judea's "Peace Party" and the
"Royalist Party" among the American
revolutionists. 160

XXIII. Should Josephus be regarded as a traitor? 179

XXIV. Whether the Temple's fall abolished or
suspended animal sacrifice is a point of difference
between Judaism's two schools to-day. 189

XXV. In what respect did the "Academy" differ
from a school? 196

XXVI. Contrast the ancient gnostic with the modern
agnostic. 200

XXVIII. Should Akiba's method of law deduction be
called casuistic? 210

XXIX. What degree of pain or peril justifies
disregard of ceremonial law? 216

XXX. Can the number of our duties be specified? 221

XXXI. What is Revelation, and how did the sages
apply it to the Oral Law? 228

XXXII. Is the Jew's first duty to his countrymen or
to his coreligionists? 238

XXXIV. What right had the Byzantine Empire to
the title "Roman"? 249

XXXV. Compare Bible and Talmud as literatures.
In what sense can it be said that the Talmud
made the Jew? 255

XXXVIII. In what respect did mediaeval slavery
differ from Russian serfdom and from the bond
service in the early colonial era of
America? 287

XXXIX. Why did the higher clergy oppose the mingling
of Jews and Christians, and the lower
favor it? 292

XL. Why did Judaism not succeed as a proselytising
religion? 298

XLI. Should Mohammed be called a prophet? 303

XLII. Amplify the probable consequences of the
acceptance of Mohammed by the Jews. 311