Lombaard, Christoffel Johannes Stephanus2022-11-082022-11-082021Lombaard, C. 2021, 'Law and faith in ancient Israel and in modern democratic statehood as search for socio-political wellbeing', Scriptura, vol. 120, no. 1, pp. 1-19, doi : 10.7833/120-1-1992.0254-1807 (print)2305-445X (online)10.7833/120-1-1992https://repository.up.ac.za/handle/2263/88178In this contribution, the argument pits two cultural reflexes against one another. In modern democracies, religion is removed from the socio-political sphere; in ancient Israel, religion was inserted into the socio-political sphere. In both cases, the intention was the same: the socio-political wellbeing of the citizenry. Such a cultural comparison puts to question the false assumption in modern democracies, that a public sphere emptied of religion constitutes greater freedom.enUniversity of Stellenbosch, Department of Old and New TestamentRelationship between law and faithSacralisationSecularisationCultural relativityFreedomArticle