영어로 읽는 고전 _ 이스라엘 쟁윌의 선택 받은 민족들
이스라엘 쟁윌의 “선택받은 민족들”은 역사적·철학적 담론의 범주에 속하는 학술적 저작으로, 20세기 초에 집필되었다. 이 글은 1918년에 행해진 제1회 아서 데이비스 기념 강연의 원고로, 유대인이 "선택받은 민족"이라는 관념을 둘러싼 복잡한 주제를 다루며, 그것이 역사적·윤리적으로 어떤 함의를 지니는지를 탐구한다. 쟁윌은 보다 넓은 인류 역사의 맥락 속에서 유대교에 대한 문화적·사회적 인식을 파고들며, 영적 정체성과 사회적 책임 사이의 상호작용을 고찰한다.
“선택받은 민족들”에서 쟁윌은 먼저 유대인이 신에 의해 선택되었다는 논쟁적 주장을 검토하면서, 이 관념이 유대인 공동체와 비유대인 공동체 양쪽 모두에서 역사적으로 어떤 불만과 갈등을 촉발해 왔는지를 조명한다. 그는 성서 서사를 통해 유대인 정체성의 진화를 숙고하며, '선택받았다'는 개념이 우월함을 내포하는 것이 아니라 오히려 보편적 도덕 원칙과 윤리적 행동에 대한 깊은 책임을 수반한다고 강조한다. 쟁윌은 유대교 내부에 공존하는 자기 이익과 이타주의의 이중적 흐름을 밝히면서, 유대인의 사명의 본질은 인류의 더 큰 선에 봉사하는 데 있다고 주장하며, 인종적 우월주의와 자기 고립의 위험 모두를 불식시킨다. 비판적이고 성찰적인 시선을 통해, 그는 궁극적으로 유대인의 경험이 민족의 경계를 초월한다고 역설하며, 모든 인간은 정의와 평화를 향해 나아가야 할 공동의 운명을 공유하고 있다고 선언한다.
Classics Read in English _ Chosen Peoples by Israel Zangwill
Israel Zangwill's Chosen Peoples, originally delivered in 1918 as the inaugural Arthur Davis Memorial Lecture, is not a work of theology in the conventional sense. It is, rather, a bold intellectual reckoning with one of the most misunderstood ideas in religious history: the notion that the Jewish people were "chosen" by God.
Zangwill wastes no time acknowledging the discomfort this concept has caused—not only among those outside Judaism, who have read it as a claim of supremacy, but also among Jews themselves, who have long wrestled with its weight. His argument, however, moves swiftly past defensiveness. To be chosen, he insists, is not to be elevated above others; it is to be burdened with a moral calling. The election of Israel, as Zangwill reads it through the arc of biblical narrative, is less a privilege than a mandate—a summons to uphold justice, compassion, and ethical accountability on behalf of all humankind.
What makes the lecture remarkable is its refusal to let the discussion remain parochial. Zangwill dismantles the twin dangers of racial chauvinism and cultural withdrawal with equal vigor, arguing that the authentic spirit of Judaism has always pointed outward, toward universal service rather than tribal self-preservation. In his closing vision, the boundaries of peoplehood dissolve altogether: every nation, every community, every individual shares in the collective human obligation to pursue peace and justice. Written in the final year of the First World War, the lecture reads as both a defense of Jewish purpose and a plea for a broader, shared humanity—one that remains as urgent now as it was then.
Among the contents
The claim that the Jews are a "Chosen People" has always irritated the Gentiles. "From olden times," wrote Philostratus in the third century, "the Jews have been opposed not only to Rome but to the rest of humanity." Even Julian the Apostate, who designed to rebuild their Temple, raged at the doctrine of their election. Sinai, said the Rabbis with a characteristic pun, has evoked Sinah (hatred).
In our own day, the distinguished ethical teacher, Dr. Stanton Coit, complains, like Houston Chamberlain, that our Bible has checked and blighted all other national inspiration: in his book "The Soul of America," he even calls upon me to repudiate unequivocally "the claim to spiritual supremacy over all the peoples of the world."
The recent revelation of racial arrogance in Germany has provided our enemies with a new weapon. "Germanism is Judaism," says a writer in the American Bookman.
