I have a confession. Despite all the hype surrounding his many novels, I’m not a huge Dan Brown fan. Sure, I’ve read all his books, and like many, I love a good historically-loaded suspense novel. But while his writing keeps you excited and wanting more, his plotlines are all the same. Of all his books, I read Angels & Demons last, and it only took me about two chapters before I could tell you the identity of the mysterious villain.
So, when his new Robert Langdon book came out, Lost Symbol, I was torn. Part of me couldn’t help but wonder if he’d finally shaken things up. Giving in, I reserved the book at the library and finally started reading it this morning. While I haven’t completed more than 100 pages of the novel, I am excited to say that at least one part of this book has sparked an interest. In the initial pages of the novel, Brown’s protagonist Langdon discusses the question: What makes something a religion? In response, Langdon and his class talk about the three necessary components of a religion – the ABCs – assure, believe, convert. As Langdon explains, “Religions assure salvation; religions believe in a precise theology; and religions convert nonbelievers.”
This got me thinking. If these three components are necessary to categorize something as a religion, can Judaism be considered a religion?
As far as I can tell, Judaism only completely fulfills the second attribute. Most would agree that Judaism follows and believes in a specific theology, with a set of rules and beliefs all its own. We see this everyday! People keeping kosher, reciting prayers, and adhering to the Ten Commandments. But, what about the other two requirements?
Does Judaism assure salvation? Perhaps it comes down to how one defines salvation. I think of salvation as the saving of one’s soul and the belief in an afterlife. As someone raised in an observant Jewish household, I was always taught that Judaism does not discuss an afterlife. Instead, Judaism emphasizes the here and now, saying that what we 
do with the present is all that matters, not what happens to us after we are gone. Based on this, I’m not sure if Judaism meets the “A” requirement for a religion.
And, what about converting nonbelievers? Like all religions, Judaism gladly accepts those wishing to convert to the Jewish faith. However, Judaism does not go out and seek converts. There aren’t Jewish missionaries roaming the globe in search of prospective Jews. In fact, tradition says that a Rabbi must turn down someone wishing to convert three times before accepting them as a student. Three times! That means you have to really want to become a Jew if you’re going to withstand rejection so many times. So, if Jews do not act as missionaries and, on top of that, they make it difficult to convert, I have trouble seeing how they fit the “C” criterion.
What does this mean? Honestly, who knows for sure? It could just mean that Brown’s statement is flawed (regardless of whether the idea was his or someone else’s). Still, even if his book ends up leaving me disappointed, I can at least give him credit for sparking an interesting discussion!
-Sarah
#1 by Laura Weakley on October 14, 2009 - 7:17 pm
I too am reading Dan Brown’s “The Lost Symbol” now. I found his criteria for what makes a religion very obviously Christian-oriented (as Seinfeld said, “Not that threre’s anything wrong with that” – my attempt at being politically correct!). I have to tell you I am a Jewish woman who speaks her mind and has many opinions she likes to share, whether one seeks out my opinions or not! I don’t actually worry about being politically correct, nor do I care, but that quote popped into my head! I just want to educate you and your readers on some points. Yes, Judaism teaches that what we do in the here and now is all we should worry about, but we absolutely have a history of believing in the hereafter. Read the prayers we say. We always pray about the world to come. Also, Kaballah teaches us about the levels of heaven. The Torah talks about our rewards in the world to come. We teach that we need to make the most of this life; after all, Deuteronomy states, “Choose Life so that You May Live!” Clearly, the Torah teaches us to follow the mitzvot in this life.
Without prattling on, we once actively sent people to convert non-Jews to Judaism. I was surprised to learn this. Generally, we do not and have not done this, I believe, in over 1,000 years. But Dan Brown’s criteria just indicates that conversion can take place, as it was one word in his list of criteria. We all know that conversion takes place! By the way, a rabbi will turn someone away three times precisely because conversion shouldn’t be taken lightly. Also, it happens that historically and currently it is difficult being Jewish, as there exists quite a lot of discrimination, and I’ll leave it at that.
As a note, I love reading Dan Brown’s books for the adventures, and his historical research. He wasn’t very, or even close, to being considered thorough in his Jewish research for his books, and I could correct him on quite a lot of points, but the adventure is a fun escape!
Spiritually Yours,
Laura Weakley
#2 by Naomi on October 14, 2009 - 10:37 pm
Hi Sarah,
I’m also not a big Dan Brown fan (I usually go to Robert Ludlum when I’m looking for a trashy action novel fix ;-] ).
Either way, I decided to chime in on something you said, history nerd that I am! I read an excellent overview of Jewish history by Steven Bayme this summer. In the book, he discusses the history of Judaism and proselytizing. Apparently, it wasn’t until the early middle ages that the rabbis actually banned proselytizing – there were even certain periods in early Jewish history (I’m thinking about the Hellenistic) where going out and seeking converts was actually considered a religious virtue! Once it became clear during the middle ages that the Church was enacting many of its anti-Semitic laws out of a fear of Jewish proselytizing… that’s when the whole rejecting a potential convert three times really came into vogue. And it’s stuck ever since!
Fun fact for ya.
#3 by Todd on October 16, 2009 - 10:49 am
Sarah. Are you kidding me? Do you really believe that Judaism does not believe in an afterlife? Have you never heard of the concepts of Olam Hazeh and Olam Hab’ah. Also, as Naomi says, Judaism as a non-prosletizing religion is fairly new. One only has to look at the Torah itself and the stories of Abraham to see that at one time, Jews actively sought converts.
#4 by nancy @ princetoncryo on October 18, 2009 - 8:36 am
I don’t think it is fair to start a discussion on the basis of religion. We have many other topics to talk about – religion invites temper, something which can be avoided easily.
#5 by Sarah on October 19, 2009 - 9:35 am
Thanks so much to everyone for such thoughtful insights!
#6 by Les on October 19, 2009 - 10:25 am
The definition of “religion” is one that points directly towards primary interests of the Christian and Muslim faiths. Judaism marches to a different drummer. We have each of those elements, but not necessarily as a major aspect. The term “salvation” has a very different meaning in Brown’s novel than in Judaism.
Judaism has low emphasis on theology, but lots of guidance on actions required to reach salvation as individuals and as a group by living the good life.
Brown’s definition of religion reminds one of Justice Scalia’s assertion that a cross can be a generic memorial symbol in a military cemetery that welcomes U.S. veterans of all faiths.
#7 by Michael Makovi on October 23, 2009 - 2:38 am
The problem with these discussions of “religion” is that they always assume Christian conceptions of “religion”. Case in point: historians will discuss whether religion is a part of a civilization, given that religion is otherwordly and leads to the downfall of the civilization. To this, I reply: no, a thousand times no! Constantine’s adoption of Christianity may have had this result, but Christianity is not the only “religion”! Even Dayan Isidore Grunfeld’s stupendous introduction to Judaism Eternal stumbles over this pitfall.
Now then, regarding Judaism being a missionary religion, it depends on what it’s being compared to. If one compares Judaism to Christianity, then of course it isn’t missionizing. (See Rabbi Dr. Eliezer Berkovits’s fantastic discussion in Judaism: Fossil or Ferment? of the paradoxical results of Christian universalism.) But if one compares Judaism to paganism, then the result will be quite different:
Professor G. F. Moore, “The Idea of Torah in Judaism”, http://www.adath-shalom.ca/idea_torah.htm:
“In the two or three centuries on either side of the Christian era Judaism made great numbers of converts throughout the wide dispersion. Various Oriental religions in that age were offering the secret and the assurance of a blessed immortality through initiation into their mysteries, and drew into their mystic societies many seekers of salvation. Judaism on the contrary, as we have seen, appeared to ancient observers to be not a mystery but a philosophy. It had a high doctrine about God which was publicly taught in its synagogue schools, a rule of life, and venerable scriptures in which both the doctrine and the rule were contained; and it sought to make converts by rational persuasion. In this aspect Judaism is sometimes called a missionary religion; but if the phrase is used it must be understood that it was a missionary religion without an organization for propaganda and without professional missionaries. The open doors of the synagogue, a noteworthy apologetic literature, and the individual efforts of Jews in their various social spheres to win over their neighbors, were the only instrumentalities in the conversion of the Gentiles. Polytheism and idolatry were the salient characteristics of the religions in the midst of which the Jews in the dispersion lived. … To convert men from polytheism and idolatry was therefore the prime effort of Judaism among the Gentiles, and it might well seem that the renunciation of these from religious conviction was in principle the abandonment of heathenism and acceptance of Judaism. Even from Palestinian teachers come such utterances as, “Whoever professes heathen religion is as one who rejects the whole Torah, and whoever rejects heathen religion is as one who professes the whole Torah” (Sifre, Deut. 54, end; ibid. Num. 111, f. 31b. end).”
So according to Professor Moore, Judaism IS a missionizing religion. How’s that for irony?
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And of course, Judaism does not have a precise theology, unless we want to ignore Rambam’s notice that there is no pesaq halakhah in aggadah, and pasqen his Thirteen Principles as halakhah. (The contradiction, and the mental powers required to resolve it, just beg for a reference to H. P. Lovecraft’s The Cthulhu Mythos.)
A cursory glance at Professor Marc Shapiro’s The Limits of Orthodox Theology will prove that Judaism has no precise theology, as if an equally cursory glance at the Midrash Rabbah didn’t already amply prove the point.
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The afterlife is a difficult topic. On the one hand, the Torah does indeed refer to Abraham being gathered to his father’s, so obviously there was some afterlife. On the other hand, Psalms and Job consistently use imagery of a shadowy netherworld (Sheol); they may have believed in the afterlife, but what kind of G-d forsaken pit might it have been? And I haven’t even gotten to tehiat ha-meitim! (See my treatment of that here. We have to run through everything from Zoroastrianism to Second Temple apocalypses, yay!)