Herman van Praag: Religion and Religious identity

Herman van Praag’s reply to Barry Blackwell

        Barry Blackwell made only two remarks regarding my paper.  In all honesty, I disagree
with both of them.

        First: He considers Amos to be a mythical figure.  The contrary is true. He is
very concrete, very real, i.e., the author of the book in disguise.

        Moreover, he suggests that doubt could lead to crusades and inquisition. The contrary seems true to me.  Lack of doubt, dogmatism, lead to intolerance and violence, to such monstrosities as the crusades and inquisition.

        Dialectics form part of the foundation of Judaism.  That should be the case in
all faiths.

December 10, 2020