According to the apostolic constitution Veritatis gaudium by Pope Francis, the fundamental mission of theology is the transmission of the joy of truth. This idea will be discussed in the historical perspective developed by Egyptologist Jan Assmann. By comparing the rise of biblical monotheism with the evolution of religion in ancient Egypt, he finds that the specificity of biblical monotheism provides two fundamental options: option for the truth and option for the faithfulness. They both require conversion, which creates a new »monotheistic man«. Although the rise of monotheism may be understood in the light of the Axis Era (Karl Jaspers), which opened a »transcendental vision«, biblical monotheism differs from other types of monotheisms because it separates the political and religious spheres. This separation was the consequence of Israel’s traumatic experiences, namely, its loss of political autonomy under Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian and Hellenistic political supremacy. Israel found its new identity in the Bible. Therefore, the political dimension of Israel’s self-understanding was substituted by religious meaning. In this regard, the most important role was played by linguistic reduction of the revelation to the Script. The reduction resulted in a capacity to distinguish between the true God and idols, among which the most powerful is the total state, symbolized in the Bible as »Egypt«. This new capacity of distinction is also known as »mosaic distinction«, arguably the most consequential aspect of biblical monotheism. Biblical culture, however, promotes the truth in a weak sense as in the manner presented in the apostolic constitution
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