Even Jewish theology adopted the systematic form of surrounding Christian culture

Evidence

We can see the same acculturation in architecture, and strik­ ingly even in theology. There is a story told of an Anglican scholar who was a specialist on Judaism and published a book entitled The Systematic Theology of the Synagogue. It was reviewed by a rabbi who began his review by saying, “first of all there is no such thing as ‘the Synagogue,’ and if there were, it wouldn’t have a theology and if it did, it wouldn’t be systematic.” Nevertheless, there is a Jewish theology, which developed at a relatively late date; it is on the whole rather systematic, and the external influences on the development of this system­ atic theology are plainly visible. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 328

Categorization

• CANDY: The rabbi’s one-liner review — ‘no such thing as the Synagogue… and if there were, it wouldn’t have a theology and if it did, it wouldn’t be systematic’ — is a delightfully quotable dismissal.
• SEED: A recoverable essay angle: cultural acculturation runs so deep it reshapes even the theology of a minority religion into the host culture’s form.
• XREF: connects to: Jewish nationalization realized rather than abandoned Christian millenarian theology — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized:…, 339; Jewish nationalism adopted the Christian West’s secularized image of the ancient Hebrews — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized:…, 335