III   The Starting Point

Schauer, Markus: Aeneas Dux in Vergils Aeneis. Eine literarische Fiktion in augusteischer Zeit, Munich 2007; Scheer, Tanja Susanne: Mythische Vorväter. Zur Bedeutung griechi­scher Heroenmythen im Selbstverständnis kleinasiati­scher Städte, Munich 1993

3.0.1.
In the traditional narrative, the reasons behind the origins of Judaism and Christianity are never questioned;

but the answer is provided in the eternal will of a divine being whose decisions we humans are not to question.

3.0.2.
The new narrative must of course pose the “why” question; it is the question about the historical situation within which the origins of the Jewish and Christian religions become comprehensible.

To put it another way: what new social conflicts demanded new religious and moral answers and what answers did the Jewish and Christian religions give?