Inward and Sociocentric Formations of Ancient Selves

Abstract There are several ways of speaking about an inner personal self in the Hebrew Bible and Hellenistic Jewish texts, yet according to Charles Taylor’s influential distinction between ancient and modern selves, inwardness is more characteristic of modern cultural developments within which individuals are socially “disembedded.” Taylor himself noted an ancient exception in Plato’s account of self-mastery, but this concession raises a question as to why ancient Jewish literature was excluded from his philosophical discussion. This paper reexamines a range of texts that have emerged in recent debates, considering the ways in which a “legal self,” conscience, and the Priestly imitatio Dei reflect different modes of ancient subjecthood. The biblical literature is overwhelmingly sociocentric, and in this respect Taylor’s modelling is still defensible, even if his historical accounts have significant gaps.