Maybe this isn't an original idea or one that would closely survive scrutiny, but the idea occured to me recently that the notion that there is something called "Western Civilization" or "Judeo-Christian Civilization" with a continuous history going back to Ancient Greece and the tribes of Judea, and a cultural continuity uniting all the phases of its history, is really a modern foundation myth/historical legitimation narrative.
I mean that, like narratives of the Third Rome or how the Reich is grounded in the ancient German tribes and other similar narratives, it serves to legitimize contemporary beliefs and practices by rooting them in the distant past. As for instance 19th-century Russian nobles would try to tie their family trees to the Mongols, so modern North Americans and Europeans attempt to think of themselves as the inheritors of the ancient Greeks and Hebrews.
Does this make any sense to anybody?
____________________________________________________________________________________ Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your home page. http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs