The Legacy of Israel, planned by the late I. Abrahams,
and edited by Edwyn R. Bevan and Charles Singer (Clarendon Press, 10s.), is a very remarkable book. The joint product of Christian and Jewish scholarship, it " deals with the contribution that has come to the sum of human thought from Judaism and from the Jewish view of the world." It touches but lightly on the Biblical record and on the history of the Jews and emphasizes what is less well known, notably in a long and masterly chapter by Dr. and Mrs. Singer on " The Jewish Factor in Mediaeval Thought." Here the authors bring out the value.of the Jewish students who read the Greek philosophers in Arabic versions and introduced Plato and Aristotle to Western Europe. A singularly compact and lucid sketch of scholasticism will enable the unlearned reader to understand what two Jews, Maimonides and Avicebron, thus did for the intellectual development of Europe before St. Thomas Aquinas. The authors venture on the bold paradox that " in a cultural sense the Jews were the first Europeans," and remind us that " the Jews had settled in Western Europe before many of its most typical inhabitants had emerged from Asia." With the Reformation Christians began to study the Hebrew Bible, led by Luther himself ; Dr. Box examines the effect of these studies, and Dr. Selbie in a very instructive essay discusses " The Influence of the Old Testament on Puritanism," which was partly good and partly detrimental. Professor Isaacs comments in a fresh and vivid paper on The Influence of Judaism on Western Law," notably in regard to the registration of deeds and to copyright. Mr. Laurie Magnus writes well. on " The Legacy in Modern Literature," and Dr. Montefiore in an impressive epilogue reminds us that Israel is not dead but very much alive, and that with its passionate Theism it can promote the cause of religion throughout the world. The volume is admirably illustrated ; Dr. Singer himself has chosen the subjects from many sources and has described each plate most carefully.
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