When hunter-gatherers became farmers their dwelling place, social life and religion changed dramatically. By domesticating plants and animals farmers acquired property. Harvest surpluses were stored and exchanged for goods. People started trading, some got rich and others poor. Strong and clever people were admired as ever, but strength and brains are not necessarily transferred to children. Possessions and debt are. Some acquire wealth, others incur big debts. And if you could not repay your debt, you had to work for the rich or even become their slave (like prisoners of war or criminals).
Catalhoyuk in central Turkey is one of the oldest trading towns of the world – more than 11000 years old. Cereals, tools and raw materials were stored and traded. Family wealth or lack thereof became important and defined one’s prestige. The growing class-consciousness could be seen in the interior of the house. In certain houses beautiful mural paintings were found. Many had a special place for religious ceremonies. Apparently such rituals were no longer exclusively performed by the whole group in the temple as in Gobekli Tepe, but also in the circle of the family.
In two ways people are beginning to distinguish themselves – from nature and from each other. The first (as we saw in the previous chapter) by using fields and villages as well as worshipping gods instead of spirits. The second (distinguishing from each other) by the class difference between rich and poor as well as by the rise of the private religion alongside the temple cult. These are important steps towards a new sense of identity appearing between 2000 – 1000BC.
In the end the new reality of wealth and debt strongly influenced social, moral and religious awareness. Debt even more so than fortune. For the Jews debt got a significant moral and religious dimension in the sense of guilt or sin. People are indebted to God. Discharging or redeeming the debt is crucial to even the relation. In the Bible quilt and redemption not only define the material relations between people but also the spiritual relation between God and man.
This offers food for thought, because debt is obligation nor gratitude. Debt presupposes a reciprocal relationship. Debt can be quantified and can (in principle at least) be repaid or settled. In essence it reduces the relation to a transaction and renders the relation impersonal. In fact relations that really matter such as with friends are not business like. Similarly the relation between individual and society or God is not commercial nor egalitarian. Later we will see how the relations between God, society and man will develop.
No doubt property is very important to the poor and probably to the rich as well. But for most of us the impersonal, material things (that diminish when shared) are no match to the personal, immaterial goods like freedom, trust, love and knowledge (that grow when shared).