The claim of religious universalism

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to disclose the sources and consequences (including those social and political) of the main attitude of great monotheist religions of the biblical tradition (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) – focusing on a line connecting the primary experience of early Hebrew religion, with the actual doctrinal structure and the political practice of institutional Christianity. The starting point is an interpretative analysis of Gen 1. The “song of creation” is here interpreted as an eminent example of the universalist thinking, founded in a specific totalizing religious-political decision. The author tries to show how the critical understanding of this text discloses the internal ideological structure of the mentioned religions in their theory and practice.