The Evolution of Thinking

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, 2023

Have you ever wanted to meet the heroes of the Bible?

This book will give you the opportunity to interact with many of the Biblical characters – to ask them what they’re thinking and feeling, and why they behave the way they do. You’ll also meet God, ancient man’s imagined version of the prototypical forefather. You probably have a lot of questions for him about his behavior; this time, for a change, he’ll answer.

The heroes of the Bible spoke their own language. They never said, “In my opinion,” or “I don’t know,” or “That’s interesting.” They never asked themselves why they did the things they did. Moreover, they rarely used the word “I” – the most common word in modern western culture. Instead, they activated their reality through drama: consider the difference between the Biblical phrase “Thus spoke Abraham” with the more modern “And Abraham said.”

This language, which everyone once knew, is a forgotten language. It is the language of traditional communities. This kind of thinking – “We language” as opposed to modern-day “I language” – is the subject of this book.

As readers encounter well-known stories from the Bible, they will discover a new world that will help them understand how the Bible’s protagonists thought, how members of other cultures think, and even how they themselves think.

This book is the fifth in the author’s series “The Cultural Code”.