9

What consequences can we expect from deciphering Freud’s Moses? In the light of the teaching of this testament of his, we can consider that the trauma left by Nazism has only accentuated the difficulty of approaching religious history analytically. Psychoanalytic currents that have neglected or criticized the cultural dimension of Freud’s works have contributed to this, as has the long and still partly unconscious influence of religion. A brief summary of the latent and manifest content of this book shows why these obstacles obscured the understanding of this work, which provides nothing less than the solution to the biblical enigma concerning the origin of monotheism—at the cost of a renunciation of drive. Logically, the consequences of its deciphering will affect the human sciences, as well as political or religious “identities” still held to be immutable.