Monday, 4 July 2016

Religion and Cultural Memory (tr. Rodney Livingstone),
Jan Assmann, Stanford University Press, 2006, page 20

Assman's second Deuteronomic lesson is that the book is both complex and comprehensive.

It is not concerned just with bonds in the sense of political allegiance, but also in the sense of establishing a common identity that ties the individual into the learning and remembering community of the people. In other words, what is instilled are the bonds of community, and not just the bonds of rule.

Put another way, by remembering the story, the people become and remain a people and so are in a position to abide by the commandments as a people.