Leo Strauss: Jerusalem and Athens

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In his Biblical account of the Creation, Strauss develops the idea that in their sequence the creation days reflect God's plan where each creature is assigned a rank.

Man stands at the top as the purpose of God's world order. --  (That isn't a statement of fact, nor a hypothesis, but a postulate. It can neither be proven, nor disproven, but is accepted as an appliance to connect laws and reflections.)

And Strauss goes on to compare the clear Biblical cosmology to the messy Greek account of gods, godesses, semi-gods, human and bastard gods all fighting and cheating each other while somehow manipulating  events.


The Bible is the subject that Strauss really liked, though  he often called himself a sociologist, ironically or maybe defensively.  He was at war with sociology.

For Strauss the Biblical account of the Creation is not a matter of belief or critical analysis. It exists to cushion later views. It is a shock absorber.

And besides, it is beautiful. -- Beauty matters in the very long run. Good examples are the illuminated (=illustrated) manuscripts of the Middle Ages which survived when simpler editions of the same texts must have existed, but disappeared.


Leo Strauss: Jerusalem and Athens: Some Introductory Reflections  — June 1967-- http://www.scribd.com/doc/19655597/LEO-STRAUSS-JERUSALEM-AND-ATHENS
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Quotes: 

"For the Christian, the sacred doctrine is revealed theology; for the Jew and the Muslim, the sacred doctrine is, at least primarily, the legal interpretation of the Divine Law."

"Confronted by the incompatible claims of Jerusalem and Athens, we are open to both and willing to listen to each. ”
Strauss uses "Athens" for reflection based on reason and "Jerusalem"  for reflection based on (Biblical) law.

"Yet since we say that we wish to hear first and then to act or to decide, we have already decided in favor of Athens against Jerusalem." 


"Being a philosopher, that is, hating "the lie in the soul" more than anything else[.....],

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It is the easiest of his books and the best to read, judged by how much you can retain or take home. I think it is also shorter. I have not read any of his books "from beginning to end". 

Strauss is Jewish and in this book he seems to address a Jewish audience mainly. However, as to the authority of the Bible, most Christians would be under similar though lighter obligation.  


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How did Strauss decide the issue ?

I believe he thought that it is necessary to always remember both. He may have said that when push comes to shove there is only 1 option and it is Biblical.

His quotes from the Bible are too unique, too good, too personal for him not to have realized that there is nothing equivalent elsewhere, nothing as worthwhile in the long run.

It is absurd to consider Strauss a Bush era man.
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