Big Ideas · 3 · Deborah
Deborah inspired modern ideas of nationhood
In the 1780s, Johann Gottfried Herder read the Song of Deborah as proof that diverse tribes could share one spirit without a ruler or borders.
Nationhood doesn't have to wait for statehood.
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Herder became one of the first modern thinkers of national identity. Many communities worldwide have drawn on biblical writings to imagine a nation distinct from a state, the very distinction the Bible's scribes drew after defeat.
Bible reference: Judges 5
Source: Why the Bible Began, pp. 43–44
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