Secular Zionism internalized Christian anti-Talmudic polemics by splitting Bible from law

Evidence

In this fashion, Judaism was divided into two factions: a “nation” that signifies the memory-cum-imagination of the Bible commonly held by Jews and Christians; and a “religion” that was identified with the Talmud and Jewish law and was rejected by secular Zionism. Consequently, the Zionist attitude toward “religion” preserves and reproduces the Christian fundamental ambivalence toward traditional Judaism and, by extension, the Jews. This, then, is the context for Zionism’s absolute identification with the West and contraposition to the East. — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized, 341

Categorization

• XREF: Extends the reader’s ‘manufactured external enemy’ thread: here the boundary work aligns Jewish nationalism with the Christian West against the East, showing nationalism’s identity is partly forged by adopting the enemy’s own categories. — connects to: Zionism made the Bible a national rather than religious text — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized:…, 327; Secular Zionism reinterpreted theology rather than departing from it; Zionism’s professed secularism carried hidden messianic theology — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized:…, 300 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Secular Zionism reinterpreted theology rather than departing from it #expands (0.85)
• Zionism’s self-definition required rejecting parts of Jewish religious history too #expands (0.80) — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized, 360
• Zionism’s professed secularism carried hidden messianic theology #complicates (0.78) — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized, 300