Common Differences Revisited

This comparative study, written by David Prosnitz, places Judaism and Christianity side by side and approaches the subject from an unconventional angle. Its essays argue that the meanings found in each tradition arise from shared cultural distinctions and underlying structures, such as the contrasts between spirit and flesh and between male and female. The author treats these shared differences as the central idea of the book.

Using methods drawn from the anthropology of religion and from semiology, the essays identify a similar deep structure in several places: the Trinity, the God of mystical Judaism, the bond uniting Israel, Torah and God, and the social relationships within the Western family. The author explains these parallels as the result of common, deeply rooted differences rather than simple borrowing.

The collection includes five essays: "Distinction and Structure in our Religious Culture", "Christianity/ a study in cultural contrasts", "The Trinity – its cultural definition", "Storied Triads of the Bible", and "The Eucharist, The Passover and the Word". The prose is concise and serious, which should appeal to readers interested in religion, in the Bible as literature, or in the philosophy of religion.