Jewish Civilization Samuel P. Huntington Forgot About

This essay attempts to dismantle the inadequate justification of “Judeo-Christian” values provided as the sole justification in Huntington’s thesis for classifying Jewish identity as a member of the Western world. This essay does not discount any similarities in ethics or morals upheld by Jews and Christians. However, this essay does demonstrate the vast differences between these faiths and calls into question any argument made that these faiths are essentially the same. Even though Huntington discusses the extensive history and ethnic differences between the West and the Islamic worlds, he fails to demonstrate an understanding of the complex religious identities and relationships between Christians, Jews, and Muslims. This essay suggests that instead of using the criteria provided by Huntington to formulate the civilizational blocs outlined in his thesis, one should understand that a unique Jewish civilization better represents Jewish identity in history and modernity than the Western classification provided by Huntington. This paper suggests the classification of “Judeo-Christian” values needs to be reevaluated because it is a Western understanding of Judaism and conceals the Western history of anti-Judaism (Almond). Additionally, the concept of “Judeo-Christian” values is potentially harmful to Jewish people by neglecting to recognize the unique aspects of their faith. Almond agrees with this observation when stating, “the term ‘Judeo-Christian tradition’ continues the suppression of Jewishness by hiding the essential differences between Judaism and Christianity, one of which is that each denies the validity of the other.” To finish with an observation from Rabbi Eliezer Berkovits: “Judaism is Judaism because it rejects Christianity, and Christianity is Christianity because it rejects Judaism” (Almond). This notion has been supported by the evidence outlined in this paper.