If the powerful kingdoms built up by the great rulers of Israel and Judah, had not been eventually subjugated and their inhabitants exiled, one would never have recognized the need for educational reforms that fostered a national consciousness. And that mobilized broad participation, and that obligated the whole people, not solely its elites. To study Israel's national traditions of law and history and poetry and wisdom. Now, the French historian of the Middle East and Christianity, a great scholar of early Christianity, his name is Ernest Renan, wrote a famous essay in 1882 called, What is a Nation? And in that essay he observes. Quote, where national memories are concerned, griefs are of more value than triumphs, for they impose duties and require a common effort. One can point to many educational reforms especially in mod, in modernity and contemporary history. That had been instituted in response to military, military defeats. Such was the case in Prussia in 1807, when the German philosopher Fichte delivered his [FOREIGN], that is, the Speeches to the German Nation. And he delivered these to the inhabitants of Berlin. When they were occupied by Napoleon's imperial armies. And directly after this momentous defeat in the city of Yana, widely to be the most foundational document of German Nationalism. These lectures not only beckon the German people to consider what it meant to be German, but also called for sweeping educational reforms. Which were realized, by the way, several years later under the formative influence of Wilhelm von Humboldt. Where the name the Humboldt University in Berlin comes from. What Fichte emphasized in his speeches was language, tradition and literature. What really constitutes, what it means to be a German. And this, these emphasis on language and literature and tradition and, and German spirit and what have you, ethics and something particular to the German people, is very much similar to what we find within the project of the biblical authors, who go to great efforts to construct a historical narrative for the nation. And collect law codes that the nation should learn and love, and who present their readers with a corpus of wisdom, such as we have in the Book of Proverbs, which is for the people as a whole, instead of solely for the elites at the top of the society. They also compiled a psalter, consisting of the first songs and laments for Israel, focused on [FOREIGN], Israel's God, Yahweh, as the object of nations, of the nation's love and devotion, which is in many ways similar to the flags of modern nation states. So to, the biblical book will authors shape extensive prophetic writings for the communities to study and internal, and internalize. And when they set forth a shared text for the nation, they resort to and refine a common language. Hebrew. The role of language in, under conditions of imperial subjugation can be studied, particularly well in the memoir or Nehemiah. This leader witnesses men in Judah in the Persian period who had taken wives from surrounding nations. According to his memoir, his first person account, as a result of these intermarriages, many of the Judahite children, could no longer speak Yehudit or Judahite., Now this statement could refer to the fact that the children could no longer speak Hebrew. But I think there is more going on there. The expression, know how to speak Yehudit. Seems to refer to something larger than just language, something that we might call Judahite culture. And thus, he takes measures against the Judahite men who had, who had engaged in these intermarriages to address the social problem facing their struggling community. For more on the role of Hebrew. See the interview with the epigrapher, Christopher Rollston from week three of this course. Asserting the necessity of creating a national identity in the aftermath of defeat, Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote after the partition of Poland by Russia in 1768, here's a quote, the virtue of its citizens, their patriotic zeal. The particular forum that national institutions can give their spirit, that is the only rampart al, always ready to defend Poland and that no army can breach, or could breach. If you arrange things such that a Pole can never become a Russian, and I assure you that Russia will never subjugate Poland. Rousseau's method for arranging things, such that a Pole can never become a Russian, involved not only giving him or her a voice in the political process and a share in future prosperity. But first and foremost, shaping the individual into citizen through education. Which he described in his favorite work, which he des, he calls his favorite work, Emile. And that is this book on education. The collective could responsibly determine its fate, only if its constituent members, were properly instructed in the nation's histories and its laws. Another example is from his Holiness the Dalai Lama who has been my esteemed colleague here at Emory University. He recently identified several major threats to Tibetan identity, and chief among them was the need for an educational effort that could ensure the survival. Of the Tibetan people living in the diaspora and under conditions of foreign subjugation. Notably, his Holiness claims to have learned the importance of education from the Bible and from Jewish culture. And, in fact, he has spent a lot of time studying with Jewish religious leaders. To sum up, if the nation is to be a successive political model under conditions of defeat, what's critical is not only that, it imagined itself as a community, it must also have some means of fostering the participation of all members of society. And education, more than anything, else has the capacity to do just that.
