Episode Overview

Podcast: New Books Network
Episode: Tomer Persico, "In God's Image: How Western Civilization Was Shaped by a Revolutionary Idea"
Host: New Books
Guest: Tomer Persico
Date: January 8, 2026

Main Theme:
This episode explores Tomer Persico’s book In God's Image, which investigates the profound influence of the biblical notion that humans are created in God's image. Persico and the interviewer trace how this revolutionary theological idea became the root of Western concepts such as human dignity, personal autonomy, individual rights, and conscience—ideas now regarded as secular, yet which, Persico argues, stem directly from Jewish and Christian thought. The conversation delves into the development of individualism through figures like St. Paul and Martin Luther, the transformation of both Christianity and Judaism under modernity, the role of reason and its eventual secularization, and the enduring legacy and tensions of this tradition in today’s liberalism and secularism.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Image of God: From Ancient Israel to Modernity

• Origins and Radical Claim
  • Persico asserts that the idea of being created in God's image ('Imago Dei') originates in ancient Judaism and is transformative, providing the foundation for the West’s “most cherished secular ideas.”
    • "The idea of personal autonomy, rights—what I argue is that they began in the Christian tradition, which picked up the idea of the image of God, of course, from the Bible." (Tomer Persico, 02:33)

Pauline Revolution: Universalizing and Internalizing Faith

• St. Paul’s Transformation
  • Paul makes Judaism a universal religion by internalizing faith, shifting religious focus from the external (community, ethnicity, bodily rituals) to the internal (individual faith and conscience).
  • By emphasizing faith in Christ rather than ethnic or ritual identity, Paul dissolves prior boundaries and allows individuals to find meaning, authority, and identity internally.
  • Notable Quote:
    • “In order to universalize, you individualize ... Paul locates the image of God within us.” (Tomer Persico, 03:41)
    • Galatians 3:26-29 cited: "For ye are all children of God by faith in Christ Jesus... there is neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, male nor female... ye are all one in Christ Jesus."
    • “This is the revolution here ... Imagine saying this in the first century A.D. It's unbelievable.” (Tomer Persico, 06:33)
  • Sets stage for connecting the image of God to protecting individual rights and freedoms.

Martin Luther: The Authority of Conscience

• Luther’s Further Shift
  • Moves the locus of religious authority from the Church to individual conscience and direct engagement with Scripture.
  • Translates the Bible so each person can interpret it independently, intensifying individualism and leading to a plurality of Protestant denominations.
  • Memorable Moment:
    • “What Luther really says there is that he is bound by his conscience to the word of God. So the word of God is Scripture, but his authority to interpret Scripture is his conscience. Basically, what Luther does is give each and every person the authority to interpret the Holy Scriptures themselves. And this is so revolutionary.” (Tomer Persico, 11:32)

Possessive Individualism and the Modern Liberal Order

• 17th-century England and the Possessive Self
  • The concept of ‘possessive individualism’ (coined by C.B. Macpherson) emerges, viewing individuals as owners of themselves, their talents, and their freedom, with minimal obligation to society.
  • “I own myself, I can do with myself whatever I want. I am autonomous. My autonomy is important to me and I want to protect it. And I have no obvious obligation [to society] ... All sorts of conceptions which were totally ludicrous if you were to propose them to a person 500 years ago.” (Tomer Persico, 14:29)
  • This individualism becomes fundamental to concepts of liberty, commerce, rights, and the eventual birth of liberal societies.
• Freedom of Conscience
  • "Freedom of conscience" is depicted as the Puritan desire to worship as they see fit—a further internalization and privatization of faith, paving the way for modern notions of authenticity and self-expression.

Tension: Individual Autonomy vs. Ethics

• Dilemmas of Modern Freedom

  • The move toward internal authority means the traditional communal or external sources for moral judgment are replaced by individual conscience, leading to both empowerment and potential ethical solipsism.

  • Discussion: What happens when the internalized self justifies actions that are not universally moral? (22:34)

  • “We are seeing an internalization of our sources of meaning, authority and identity ... The history of Christianity can be broadly understood as a history of recurrent attempts ... to promote a more authentic version of Christianity by making it more internal and more private.” (Tomer Persico, 24:13)

Enlightenment, Emancipation, and the Transformation of Jewish Identity

• Jewish Emancipation
  • Modernity shifts Judaism from an ethnic minority group (comparable to the Druze, Yazidis, etc.) to a religion; Jews are expected to become individuals and citizens.
  • Famous quote from 1789 National Assembly: “To the Jews as individuals, we give everything. To the Jews as a people, we give nothing.” (Tomer Persico, 31:20)
  • Jews are pressed to divide their national and religious identities, prompting modern debates over Zionism and Jewish nationality, especially in Israel.

Reason as Divine Image, and the Path to Secularism

• Reason as Imago Dei
  • For centuries, reason was interpreted as the divine gift—to possess reason was to be God-like.
  • Gradually, reason enables critical analysis of scripture and religion itself, leading from rational deism to full atheism.
    • “Reason at first is the proof of God and God is the reason that we are reasonable creatures ... but then begins ... a process in which reason at first is the proof of God ... but goes into a character of reason allowing us to think straight ... and this also in the field of religion.” (Tomer Persico, 37:02)
  • By the Enlightenment, figures like Tyndall and D'Holbach use reason to strip religion of supernatural claims and eventually undermine faith itself.
  • Quote: “Reason becomes a tool in which we can analyze the Holy Scripture … In order for us to protect the dignity and the self-worth of our reason and our image of God, we need to be clear about superstition, about beliefs that are not true.” (Tomer Persico, 39:15)

The Ethical Critique of God

• The 'Buffered', Autonomous Self – Why Some See God as Immoral
  • The idea emerges that the existence of a supreme authority (God) limits true autonomy and independence; for some, genuine morality requires rejecting God in favor of self-determined ethics.
    • "How can we feel totally free if at any moment this infinite power can crush us or can send us to hell? ... I want to do good for goodness' sake, simply just for being good, not to get a reward or punishment." (Tomer Persico, 47:25)
  • Persico emphasizes he's not advocating atheism, but tracing the ethical motivations behind secularization.

The Non-Inevitability and Legacy of the Image of God

• Not a Deterministic Path

  • Emphasizes that the birth of the modern West from the image of God is not inevitable or universal—it is a contingent historical development.
    • “Nothing that I write in the book is deterministic or inevitable. It's not that if you plant the idea of the image of God somewhere, 3,000 years later you get the liberal order.” (Tomer Persico, 53:23)

• Modern Antisemitism and the Judeo-Christian Tradition

  • Persico argues there is such a thing as a Judeo-Christian tradition, characterized by interiority, individualism, dialogical relationship with the divine, and even an ethos of rebellion toward laws and institutions.
    • “If we understand this tradition of ideas coming from Judaism through Christianity and eventually ending up as the liberal order, you can understand why if you want to be anti-liberal, you need to reject Christianity and indeed you need to reject Judaism. And some of today's antisemitism is also explained that way.” (Tomer Persico, 57:17)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Paul’s Revolution:

  • “The minute you internalize religion ... you make it individualized, you make it privatized ... and you make the group you relate to universal humanity.” (Tomer Persico, 04:47)

• On Luther and Conscience:

  • "What Luther does is give each and every person the authority to interpret the Holy Scriptures themselves. And this is so revolutionary ..." (Tomer Persico, 11:32)

• On the Possessive Individual:

  • "I own myself, I can do with myself whatever I want. I am autonomous." (Tomer Persico, 14:29)

• On Jewish Emancipation:

  • “To the Jews as individuals, we give everything. To the Jews as a people, we give nothing.” (citing Count Clermont-Tonnerre, 31:20)

• On Reason’s Path to Secularism:

  • “Reason becomes a tool in which we can analyze the Holy Scripture ... and then ... reason instructs us that there is a God because we are reasonable.” (Tomer Persico, 39:15-40:50)

• On Secularism as an Ethical Standpoint:

  • “What I try to stress is ... secularism and atheism are ethical stances ... in order for them to feel that they are truly individuals, truly autonomous and truly ethical.” (Tomer Persico, 50:57)

• On the Book’s Audience and Purpose:

  • "I try to write it in a very friendly and ... simple way in order for it not to be only for academics, but for the general educated public." (Tomer Persico, 59:19)
  • "The liberal order and feminism, humanism, universal humanism and democracy, rights discourse, all these things are not something foreign to Judaism. ... These ideas are as Jewish as the first chapter of Genesis." (Tomer Persico, 61:03)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• [01:07] – Episode and book overview
• [02:33] – Biblical roots of Western secular ideals
• [03:41–08:52] – The Pauline revolution: Individualization & universalization of faith
• [09:51–13:26] – Martin Luther and the authority of the conscience
• [14:02–21:47] – 17th-century England and rise of possessive individualism
• [22:34–27:43] – Ethical tensions in internalizing authority and individuality
• [27:51–35:47] – Enlightenment, Jewish emancipation, and transformation of Judaism
• [35:47–45:22] – Reason as divine, secularization, and the rise of atheism
• [46:27–52:21] – The ethical stance of secularism, autonomy, and the buffered self
• [53:23–57:17] – The non-inevitability of secularization; the importance of the Judeo-Christian tradition
• [59:19–62:10] – Persico on audience, intent, and relevance to contemporary issues like antisemitism

Conclusion

Host’s Final Question:
Beyond academia, who is your intended audience?

• Persico emphasizes his aim for the “general educated public” and especially for Israeli Jews, hoping to demonstrate that liberal and humanistic values are rooted in Jewish tradition, not merely foreign imports.

Relevance Today:
Discussion closes by noting the real-world stakes: understanding this tradition is vital not only for appreciating Western civilization but also for combating contemporary antisemitism and anti-liberal trends.

This summary captures the full intellectual sweep and tone of the conversation, providing an accessible map to the episode's central arguments and highlights—ideal for listeners and readers seeking profound engagement with the history of the West and its roots in biblical ideas.