Reinterpreting individualism and collectivism: Their religious roots and monologic versus dialogic person–other relationship.

Examining the religious roots of individualism and collectivism and seeing them as defining alternative conceptions of the person-other relationship reveal a close link between Christianity and the former and between rabbinic Judaism and the latter. Comparisons between these 2 religious formations in the Western world expose a relationship between Christian individualism and an instrumental and monologic understanding of the person-other relationship and a contrasting rabbinic view that offers a formative and dialogic understanding of that relationship. Because the Christian view has been dominant, its understandings have framed the debates on individualism-collectivism and defined the options available for the person-other relationship, providing a somewhat distorted picture of the possibilities for humankind. The dialogic and formative perspective of the rabbinic tradition introduces an alternative portrait of human nature.