Judaism and Globalization

In his American Providence: A Nation with a Mission , Stephen Webb describes Arnold Toynbee as a “prophet” who foretold the rise of religious pluralism that inhabits Religious Studies departments and is the religious drive behind globalization. Toynbee saw that religion was the central impulse of history, but he believed that “all religions are basically the same” and that all would converge toward a global super-religion. Echoing Kant, Toynbee thought that Christianity might be the harbinger of this new global religion, if only, if only: “He urged Christians to drop their claims to uniqueness. Christianity has a universal mission, he asserted, but only if it treats its most central dogmas as unnecessary accessories.”

In particular, “the baggage it needs to throw overboard in order to ascend higher than other faiths includes its ties to Judaism. Judaism, of course, is always the scapegoat for those who emphasize the universal nature of religious truth, as well as for those who think the universality of providence must eclipse everything that remains stubbornly particular. By dissassociating themselves from the [Jewish] ‘tribal’ roots of their faith, ‘Christians can face the future with confidence.’”