Society & Culture / Culture & Ideas / Religion & Faith

The Idea That Divided the World-explores the intrinsic nature of the transition from polytheism to

The Price of Monotheism: The Mosaic Divide and the Exclusivity of Truth

Jan Assmann

The Price of Monotheism: The Mosaic Divide and the Exclusivity of Truth (Jan Assmann) 一神教的代价 This book is derived from Jan Assmann's *The Price of Monotheism*, which explores the intrinsic nature of the transition from polytheism to monotheism and the resulting historical upheavals. The author proposes the core concept of the "Mosaic Divide," where religion is no longer a simple division between sacred and secular, but rather a distinction between truth and truth. By comparing Akhenaten's reforms in ancient Egypt with the Mosaic tradition in the Bible, the book reveals that monotheism, as a "reverse religion," often involves the violent purging of pagan idols and the deliberate forgetting of past civilizations. Structurally, the text not only analyzes the evolution of two layers of religious tradition in the Bible—from coexisting polytheism to a strict religious faith—but also draws on Sigmund Freud's influence on human psychology. Asman argues that the prohibition of idolatry represents "intellectual progress," which stems from God's detachment from the natural world, thus driving the invention of the human inner world and moral awakening, but also incurring the cost of intolerance and cultural trauma. The book ultimately attempts to clarify that monotheism not only rewrote the relationship between God and the world, but also, through this debate on truth and falsehood, shaped the fundamental logic of Western society's theology of identity and alienation.